Student Entrepreneurship and Food Security: Achieving SDG 2 at the University of Limpopo

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2), endorsed in 2015, aimed to ensure food security, eliminate hunger, promote sustainable agriculture, and improve nutrition. It provided a global action plan for the year 2030. Consequently, a disparity has emerged in South Africa (SA) between the existing initiatives and the anticipated attainment of SDG 2 in time. Thus, this study sought to investigate the role of student entrepreneurship on food security to propose strategies that promote sustainable student entrepreneurship in South African universities, particularly at the University of Limpopo (UL). A quantitative methodological approach was utilised to gather primary data through an online survey. The sample consisted of 42 student entrepreneurs from the UL, who were selected using purposive sampling techniques. This study was prompted by the financial burden faced by students at South African universities, which led to a rise in student entrepreneurship to address hunger. The findings showed that student entrepreneurship alone could not fulfil SDG 2, which expressed a need for support. This study concluded that student entrepreneurship merely held significant promise for enhancing food security, and sufficient institutional, educational, and policy initiatives should back it.