There was a marginal improvement in food security in South Africa over the last year, according to research by economists at Stellenbosch University.

Marking World Food Day, food retailer Shoprite Group commissioned the South African Food Security Index 2025.

The Index sets out to provide credible, independent and reliable data to monitor South Africa’s progress in addressing hunger over time.

Four factors are measured in the index using publicly available and yearly released data, mainly, accessibility to food, affordability, utilisation/dietary diversity and stability.

In 2024, the index score increased to 56.4, up from 44.9 in 2023, which was the lowest since 2010.

This change reflects a slight increase in the proportion of households satisfied with the diversity in their diets compared to the previous year, an increase in school feeding schemes and lower food inflation. While there is a marginal improvement giving reason for hope, hunger remains a national crisis, the group says.

Key findings of the report include that all provinces except the Eastern Cape experienced an improvement in index values in 2024.

Moreover, while most households (80.8%) consumed more than six food groups, almost 20% of households ate too few food groups.

The Free State fared worst in dietary diversity: almost half the population (49.3%) consumed an inadequate diet eating three or fewer food groups in the last 24 hours when questioned.

Female-headed households were more likely than male-headed households to be food insecure.

“Food security is one of the defining challenges of our time. While we are encouraged by incremental improvements, hunger will only be defeated if business, government and civil society work together,” says Shoprite Group chief sustainability officer Sanjeev Raghubir.  

“We are, however, proud of the role the Shoprite Group is playing in making food affordable for millions of South Africans. Price remains the driving factor in determining what families eat and our business contained internal food inflation to just 2.3% in its 2025 financial year, despite broader cost pressures,” he adds.

In the past year, Shoprite, the group’s affordability-focused supermarket, sold and subsidised 27.7-million loaves of bread at R5 each, it points out.

The group also highlights its efforts to make food more accessible through its footprint in the country.

“The slight improvement in the Index shows that progress is possible and should inspire collective action from all sectors within South Africa,” Raghubir says.