Tiger Brands Foundation (TBF) has lamented the effect of load shedding on the nutrition programmes of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in South Africa.
Development Diaries reports that the foundation runs an in-school breakfast feeding programme to complement the lunch provided by the Department of Basic Education – National Schools Nutrition Programme (NSNP).
The organisation noted that due to load shedding, there have been increased costs of food as food producers have to spend large amounts of money to run diesel generators.
This, in turn, has a knock-on effect on food prices, with many staple foods becoming unaffordable for poorer households.
With imposed power interruptions that have become more frequent and severe each year, South Africa is currently experiencing a severe electricity crisis, as occasionally, electricity is down for ten hours each day.
Figures from Stats SA show that the South African economy grew by 0.4 percent between January and March this year.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), crippling power cuts, volatile commodity prices and a challenging external environment have contributed to South Africa’s weak economic growth.
TBF Operations Manager, Karl Muller, in a statement, said that South Africa continues to face a deepening energy crisis, and longer and more frequent periods of load shedding are negatively affecting many industry sectors throughout the country.
‘We would like to make a call to organisations to contribute to established nutrition programmes to ensure that 100 percent of their contributions will go towards alleviating the financial pressures experienced by NGOs due to the rising cost of living’, Muller said.
The organisation explained that load shedding is critically having an adverse effect on the production costs of grains such as maize, wheat and soybeans, resulting in higher prices for grain products like maize and bread.
As a result, children from less privileged households will become dependent on in-school nutrition programmes, while organisations that support these initiatives are also under financial pressure and struggling to donate as much as they did before.
Photo source: BBC
