In recent years, Zimbabwe has been facing severe crop failures due to the changing rain patterns which have seen the termination of the rain season by as early as February in some cases. This has more often than not led to a reduction in the yield and food output thus impacting the availability of food for the residents of the country. Government intervention has seen more food imports entering the nation from neighboring countries but due to the prevailing severe economic instability in the country, not too many are able to afford the food - affecting the accessibility of the food. In addition to this, crop pests and livestock and crop diseases have contributed to the undermining of food security in the country and has affected even the adequacy of the food. The United Nations estimates that about 5.3 million people will be in need of food aid in 2019 in Zimbabwe. As it stands, there aren’t adequate food reserves to cushion people during disasters as witnessed during cyclone Idai. This number will continue to grow as the years go by if the issues raised above and many others unmentioned go unsolved. Food security is therefore a very genuine social concern both in Zimbabwe and the world over.
According to the Office of the High Commission of Human Rights, food must be available, accessible and adequate. Availability requires that food be available from natural resources through means including the cultivation of crops and animal husbandry or other ways like fishing, hunting and gathering. It also implies that food should be available to buy in the shops should anyone desire to do so. Accessibility means individuals should be both economically and physically able to access the food whenever they so desire. Finally adequacy means the food must satisfy the dietary needs of whoever is consuming it regardless of age, sex or occupation for example. In addition to this, Section 77 of the Zimbabwean constitution states that every person has the right to sufficient food and government would take all measures available to it to achieve the progressive realisation of this right. However, looking at the current state of the country and the world at large, there is need for the young people to innovate and think wider to come up with solutions to food security problems; which is where the Thought For Food Foundation comes in.
The Thought For Food Foundation (TFF) is an organisation based in Switzerland and founded by Christine Gould to tackle food security issues through engaging with the youth or next generation in food and agriculture and empowering them to become innovators and solution builders while supporting them through mentorship and giving them access to a global community. The main question the organisation seeks to answer is how to adequately and sustainably feed an excess of 9 billion people by the year 2050. The organisation strives to create a community of young like minds that can go to their communities and conscientize them on food security issues while offering innovative solutions and preventive measures to the issues surrounding food security. To achieve this, TFF has ambassadors and participants all over the globe pushing awareness and collaborations with others sympathetic to the cause.
Heather Makufa is a TFF pre-selected Ambassador, whose interests in food security stem from its connectivity to poverty- a subject she is passionate about. She possesses a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Pretoria and a master’s degree in Applied Econometrics from Kingston University, London. She aspires to do her graduate research degree in developmental studies and focusing on food security, poverty and inequality.
