South Africa intends to increase production of livestock and crops by up to 15% in the next two to five years in order to slow food inflation, according to Priscilla Sehoole, chief communication officer at the Department of Agriculture. She said that the government was confident it could achieve these targets even though there were shortages of water and the country was prone to droughts.

While inflation in February climbed to 9.4% year-on-year, a five-year high, partly due to high prices of food and fuel, food inflation itself jumped from 13.4% year-on-year in January to 14.1% in February. Increasingly, staple foods such as bread, milk and maize are becoming unaffordable to millions of poor South Africans.

The government says it hopes to reduce consumer dependence on imported products by training more black farmers, improving their access to markets and helping them to participate in cattle improvement schemes. Sehoole added that the agriculture department wanted to increase urban animal agriculture as a source of income while enhancing household food security.