The informal sector’s role in food security: A missing link in policy debates?
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Date
2016-09
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape
Abstract
This paper aims to review what is currently known about the role played by the informal sector in general
and informal retailers in particular, in the accessibility of food in South Africa. The review seeks to
identify policy relevant research gaps. Drawing on Statistics South Africa data, we show that the informal
sector is an important source of employment, dominated by informal trade with the sale of food a
significant subsector within this trade. We then turn our attention to what is known about the informal
sector’s role in food sourcing of poorer households. African Food Security Urban Network’s surveys show
that urban residents and particularly low income households regularly sourced food from the informal
sector and we explore why this might be the case through an expanded view of access. We then consider
existing evidence on the implications of increased supermarket penetration for informal retailers and
food security. Having established the importance of the informal sector, we turn our attention to the
policy environment. First we assess the food security policy position and then the post-apartheid policy
response to the informal sector – nationally, in provinces, and in key urban centres. We trace a
productionist and rural bias in the food security agenda and argue that the policy environment for
informal operators is at best benign neglect and at worse actively destructive, with serious food security
implications. Throughout the paper we draw on regional and international evidence to locate the South
African issues within wider related trends.
Description
Keywords
Food security, Food access, Informal sector, Informal food economy, Urban economies
Citation
Skinner, C., Haysom, G. 2016. The informal sector’s role in food security: A missing link in policy debates? Working Paper 44. Cape Town: PLAAS, UWC and Centre of Excellence on Food Security.