Growing cassava in South Africa – a crop for livelihood and food security
Food self-sufficiency and food security has long been an important objective of agricultural and rural development in South Africa. Section 27 of the Constitution of South Africa (Act No.108 of 1996) stipulates that everyone has the right to have access to sufficient food and water (S. 27(1)(b)) and that the state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realization of this right (S. 27(2)). In an attempt to realise this constitutional imperative, the government of South Africa through the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) developed the Integrated Food Security Strategy for South Africa (IFSS) (DALRRD, 2002).