As World Hunger Day (28 May 2019) reminds consumers that more than 821 million people do not have enough food and that 60% of the world’s hungry are women, the Shoprite Group remains fully committed to the fight against hunger in all the countries where it operates.
This day highlights the importance of sustainability in addressing hunger and ending poverty and Africa’s largest retailer continues to implement various sustainable solutions to combat food scarcity in the short, medium and long term.
Shoprite and Checkers support 78 community food gardens across South Africa with ongoing training and mentoring taking place for at least 18 months, to ensure long-term food security. Gardens also receive essential infrastructure such as water tanks and gardening tools.
“Since 2015 we’ve trained more than 1 300 small-scale farmers, reducing food insecurity for thousands of beneficiaries as well as creating income-generating opportunities from the sale of surplus produce, seedlings and more,” explains CSI spokesperson, Lunga Shoeman.
The Group’s hunger relief efforts also extend to early childhood development (ECD) centres. One in every five children under the age of five years is either under- or malnourished in South Africa and in an effort to counter this scourge, the Group has invested in 43 ECDs to date, providing 435 629 meals to learners.
Shoprite’s fleet of 19 Mobile Soup Kitchens provide short-term hunger relief in communities across South Africa, serving a nutritious meal of fortified soup to up to 19 000 people per day. “Our Mobile Soup Kitchens are especially effective when disasters strike, enabling Shoprite to respond immediately to bring some relief to affected community members.”
Another way in which the Group fights hunger is through daily surplus food donations to thousands of vetted beneficiary organisations. This, in turn, also reduces the volume of food waste sent to landfills. In the past financial year, about 590 tons of surplus food was donated from the Group’s supermarkets and a further 133 tons were donated from its supply chain.
