PRIORITY NUMBER ONE: How a UBIG can help defeat hunger

The Institute for Economic Justice argues that food insecurity in South Africa is driven by income poverty, not food scarcity. It proposes a Universal Basic Income Guarantee (UBIG) to ensure all adults can afford a basic nutritional diet, noting that current targeted grants are insufficient. The document highlights the severe health and economic costs of malnutrition and argues that a UBIG, combined with a 'just food transition' and systemic food system reforms, can break intergenerational poverty cycles without causing significant inflation.

• Food insecurity in South Africa is driven by income poverty and inequality rather than a lack of food production, as the country is considered food secure at the national level. However, household-level hunger is widespread; 23.1% of households had "limited access" to food in 2023, and 13.5% of households had at least one member who reported "going hungry" in the same year.
• A significant portion of South African households cannot afford a basic nutritional diet. While the official food poverty line (FPL) is R796 per person per month, 64.7% of households spend less than this amount on food. A basic nutritional food basket for a four-person household was estimated at R923 per person in September 2024.
• Malnutrition has severe health and economic consequences in South Africa. In the 2022/23 reporting cycle, 1,000 children died of malnutrition and over 15,000 were hospitalised. Stunting affects 28.8% of children under 5, which is higher than the global average of 22.3%. Economically, the World Bank estimated that vitamin deficiencies alone caused annual losses of approximately US$1.1 billion (0.3% of GDP) in 2009.
• The document argues that a Universal Basic Income Guarantee (UBIG) is more effective than existing targeted grants or food vouchers. Targeted grants like the Child Support Grant (CSG) and Older Persons Grant (OPG) are often pooled at the household level to support non-recipients, reducing their per-person impact. Food vouchers are criticized as paternalistic, more prone to corruption, and likely to favor large retailers over informal traders.
• The risk of food price inflation resulting from a UBIG is considered low in South Africa because food insecurity is a result of constrained demand due to poverty, not a lack of supply. International evidence, such as a trial in Kenya, showed only a minimal price increase of 0.1% over three years. The document suggests that financing a UBIG through the redistribution of existing wealth via taxation of high-income earners would further reduce inflationary pressure.
• A UBIG must be part of a broader policy response to address systemic food system issues and climate change. Necessary complementary measures include a 'just food transition' (JFT) to ensure resilience against climate-driven crop failures, regulating food prices to prevent profiteering by supermarket chains, and improving basic services like water, roads, and sanitation.

APA

Institute for Economic Justice (2024). PRIORITY NUMBER ONE: How a UBIG can help defeat hunger. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/IEJ-UBIG-11-fact-sheet.pdf

Chicago

Institute for Economic Justice. PRIORITY NUMBER ONE: How a UBIG can help defeat hunger. 2024. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/IEJ-UBIG-11-fact-sheet.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Economic Justice |title=PRIORITY NUMBER ONE: How a UBIG can help defeat hunger |date=October 2024 |url=https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/IEJ-UBIG-11-fact-sheet.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforeconomicjustice2024priority, author = {{Institute for Economic Justice}}, title = {{PRIORITY NUMBER ONE: How a UBIG can help defeat hunger}}, institution = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2024}, month = oct, url = {https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/IEJ-UBIG-11-fact-sheet.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }