| dc.description.abstract | The relationship between social welfare policies and food security across the world remains a significant
challenge that has raised intense scholarly debate. A number of suggestions have been offered on how to
measure social welfare policies in terms of addressing the household level food security and poverty
reduction. Accordingly, a variety of hypotheses and different modalities of measurements have been
developed. In line with Rawls’ theory of justice, this research study seeks to analyse the extent to which
social welfare policies address food security and poverty in South Africa. A quantitative method of
research was applied and secondary data was used throughout the study to understand the variation of
poverty within the provinces of South Africa, by population group and household income. This was
accentuated through a social grants review intervention on food security and poverty alleviation in South
Africa. For the purpose of this study, the fifth round of the South African National Income Dynamics
Study (NIDS) (Wave V) was used for data analysis. In general, data entry and analysis was done using
statistical software STATA version 15.1. The study found that provincially, Limpopo, Eastern Cape and
KwaZulu-Natal are in serious crisis in poverty and food security and social grants are also in demand
especially in rural areas. Secondly, social grants are a crucial component of South Africa's battle against
food security and poverty. They are not sufficient to alleviate poverty and food insecurity and the high
inflation rate supersedes the slow increase of social grants, especially regarding food princes. The money
received from social grants is not spent exclusively on food but on numerous needs of the household such
as transport costs, medical care, clothes, etc. Within the context of the abovementioned analysis, the study
brings into focus general observations gained from the investigation and makes recommendations to
policy-makers and other stakeholders. | en_US |
