Kutlwano : Others

At the heart of Botswana’s nutrition challenge lays a quiet but profound crisis: food insecurity.

Nearly one in two citizens struggles to access enough, safe and nutritious food to live active, healthy and productive lives.

Professor Maria Nnyepi reveals that during the 2022/23 period, 49.4 percent of the population experienced moderate or severe food insecurity, a figure that starkly illustrates how widespread and deeply rooted the problem has become.

“Food insecurity is not simply about the 20.2 percent of Batswana who often sleep hungry due to lack of food. It also includes the 29.2 percent who often worry and are or uncertain of where their next meal will come from, or find themselves eating food of lower nutritional quality or quantity than they would like simply because they do not have a choice,” she says.

For many households, this reality translates into smaller portions, skipped meals and diets dominated by low-cost staples, high fat and sugary foods with limited nutritional value. 

Over time, Professor Nnyepi explains, this undermines health, learning outcomes for children and overall productivity, perpetuating cycles of poverty and vulnerability.

“As Botswana navigates the complex realities of under nutrition, over nutrition and food insecurity, it must be remembered that nutrition is not just a health issue, it is a foundation for national development. Investing in better nutrition today is an investment in healthier and more productive generations tomorrow,” she adds.

Highlighting Botswana’s nutrition landscape, Professor Nnyepi notes that it reflects stark contrasts.

“On one hand, 28.9 percent of children under five are stunted, indicating chronic nutritional deprivation with irreversible effects on physical and cognitive development. Wasting affects 7.3 percent of children, a rate higher than the Southern African regional average and a marker of acute vulnerability.”

On the other hand, she observes that obesity has risen sharply, particularly among adults.

“More than one in three women (32.1 percent) are obese, compared to 9.7 percent of men. Diet-related non-communicable diseases now account for 46 percent of all deaths in Botswana, with diabetes affecting 10.6 percent of adult women and 8.8 percent of adult men.”

She attributes those trends to urbanization, changing lifestyles and unhealthy food environments that have transformed eating habits, often at the expense of nutritional quality.

Professor Nnyepi emphasises that these trends are not simply matters of personal choice.

“They are shaped by food systems, urban design, economic pressures and policy environments that allow unhealthy options to be cheaper and more accessible than nutritious ones,” she notes.

One of the most significant drivers of food insecurity in Botswana, she adds, has been persistent food price inflation.

She notes that as the cost of basic food items continues to rise, household purchasing power steadily erodes.

Even families with some form of income, she adds, find themselves unable to keep up with escalating prices, particularly in urban and peri-urban areas, where people depend almost entirely on purchased food rather than subsistence production. 

Persuaded by price per volume over quality, many households live from month to month on starchy food packages commonly known as “Combo”.

Sharing similar sentiments, vegetable vendor, Keemenao Nkgware says Botswana’s heavy reliance on food imports has compounded the challenge of food insecurity.He explains that a large proportion of staple foods consumed in the country are sourced from outside its borders, making local prices highly sensitive to global market fluctuations, exchange rate movements and supply chain disruptions.

“When international prices rise or transport costs increase, the impact is quickly felt on supermarket shelves and ultimately on household dinner tables,” he notes.

He says that the consequences are especially severe for low-income households, who spend a disproportionately large share of their income on food. 

“When prices rise, these families have little room to adjust, food becomes the first and most painful compromise, often at the expense of nutrition and health care related expenses. Bagolo ba ja di bonzi, di ice-pop just to keep energy, while the reality is that there is no food and they know very well that those do not provide any quality nutrients,” he observes.

While Botswana’s situation is acute, it reflects a broader regional trend. Across Africa, hunger is rising in most sub-regions, even as global hunger levels show signs of improvement.

Climate shocks, economic pressures, conflict and structural weaknesses in food systems continue to undermine food security across the continent. 

This contrast underscores a critical reality: global progress does not automatically translate into local resilience.

A nutritionist in the Ministry of Lands and Agriculture, Baeng Ntime, argues that addressing food insecurity in Botswana requires local and regional solutions that go beyond short-term relief.

“Strengthening domestic food production, investing in climate-resilient agriculture and supporting smallholder farmers are essential steps toward reducing dependence on imports,” he notes.

Equally important, he adds, are social protection measures that shield vulnerable households from price shocks, ensuring that access to food is treated not as a privilege, but as a basic right.

Ntime also points out that nutrition education and dietary diversification play a key role.

 “Access to food must be matched with access to nutritious food, particularly for children, pregnant women and the elderly. Without this, the country risks facing a dual burden of under nutrition and diet-related non-communicable diseases, an outcome that strains both households and the health system,” he says.

Ultimately, food insecurity is not just an agricultural or economic issue; it is a human development challenge. 

It affects how children learn, how adults work and how communities thrive. These have a direct bearing on the nation’s aspirations of becoming a high-income country by 2036.

As Professor Nnyepi notes, the persistence of hunger amid available resources highlights the urgency of rethinking how food systems are designed and whom they serve. 

“Without decisive and coordinated action, food insecurity will remain the underlying crisis shaping Botswana’s nutrition landscape quietly, but relentlessly.” She concludes. ENDS

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