Nearly one in two citizens struggles to access enough safe and nutritious food to live active, healthy and productive lives, says University of Botswana, human nutrition Professor Maria Nnyepi.
Professor Nnyepi said that for the 2022/23 period, 49.4 per cent of the population experienced moderate or severe food insecurity, a figure that starkly illustrated how widespread and deeply rooted the problem had become.
“Food insecurity is not simply about the 20.2 per cent of Batswana who often sleep hungry due to lack of food, it also includes the 29.2 per cent who often worry and are 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 said.
For many households, the 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 explained, this undermined health, learning outcomes for children and overall productivity, perpetuating cycles of poverty and vulnerability.
“As Botswana navigates the complex realities of undernutrition, 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 a more productive generations tomorrow,” she said.
Highlighting Botswana’s nutrition landscape, Professor Nnyepi noted that it reflected stark contrasts.
“On one hand, 28.9 per cent of children under five are stunted, indicating chronic nutritional deprivation with irreversible effects on physical and cognitive development. Wasting affects 7.3 per cent of children, a rate higher than the Southern African regional average and a marker of acute vulnerability,” said Professor Nnyepi.
On the other hand, she stated that obesity had risen sharply, particularly among adults.
“More than one in three women (32.1 per cent) are obese, compared to 9.7 per cent of men. Diet-related non-communicable diseases now account for 46 per cent of all deaths in Botswana, with diabetes affecting 10.6 per cent of adult women and 8.8 per cent of adult men,” said Professor Nnyepi.
She attributed those trends to urbanisation, changing lifestyles and unhealthy food environments that have transformed eating habits, often at the expense of nutritional quality. These trends she said, were 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.’
One of the most significant drivers of food insecurity in Botswana, Professor Nnyepi added, had been persistent food price inflation. As the cost of basic food items continues to rise, household purchasing power has steadily eroded.
Even families with some form of income, 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, Mr Keemenao Nkgware, said Botswana’s heavy reliance on food imports had compounded the challenge of food insecurity. He explained that a large proportion of staple foods consumed in the country were sourced from outside the 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 said.
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,” he said.
“Bagolo ba ja di bonzi, di ice pop, just to keep energy, while the reality is that those do not provide any quality nutrients,” he added.
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, Mr Baeng Ntime, argued that addressing food insecurity in Botswana required local and regional solutions that went 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 said.
Equally important, he added, were social protection measures that shielded vulnerable households from price shocks, ensuring that access to food was treated not as a privilege, but as a basic right. Mr Ntime also pointed out that nutrition education and dietary diversification played 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 said.
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 our aspirations of becoming a first income country by 2036.
As Professor Nnyepi noted, the persistence of hunger amid available resources highlights the urgency of rethinking how food systems are designed and who they serve.
“Without decisive and coordinated action, food insecurity will remain the underlying crisis shaping Botswana’s nutrition landscape quietly, but relentlessly,” she said.
