by Kizito Sikuka in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe – SANF 14 no 36
A regional food security assessment indicates that SADC has cereal surplus of more than 670,000 metric tonnes, which is a significant improvement on the last four years when production stagnated.
SADC Director for Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Margaret Nyirenda told journalists ahead of the 34th SADC Heads of State and Government Summit scheduled for 17-18 August in the resort town of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe that the 2013/14 agricultural marketing season showed a vast improvement in overall cereal surplus compared to previous years.
She said the good rainfall witnessed in the region during the 2013/14 rainfall season was a significant factor in improved production. Other factors include better access to inputs such as seeds and fertilizer, as well as credit facilities and extension services.
“The general food security situation in SADC has improved over the last few years,” she said, adding that the output of crops such as maize – the staple food in most SADC countries – is higher this year compared to previous years.
Output of other crops such as cassava, which is also a staple food in parts of Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia, was also above requirements.
Nyirenda said at least five countries, namely Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, are expecting bumper harvests, a development that will allow them to sell surplus food to deficit countries.
On livestock and fisheries, she said production is on the increase although SADC continues to import livestock products.
“This gap means there is an opportunity to increase livestock and fisheries production in the region,” she said.
Nyirenda said southern Africa is making steady progress towards boosting production by allocating more financial resources to the agricultural sector.
Under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), the continent-wide policy adopted by African leaders in 2003, African governments made a commitment to allocate at least 10 percent of their national budgets to the agricultural sector each year.
This commitment is further reinforced in the Dar es Salaam Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security adopted in 2004 adopted by SADC leaders a year later in 2004 in Dar es Salaam, the United Republic of Tanzania.
Nyirenda noted that, while Malawi has long exceeded the continental and regional target to allocate 10 percent allocation of its national budget to agriculture, other SADC countries were far from reaching the milestone.
“Most SADC countries are allocating about seven percent,” she said, adding that this was still an impressive figure.
She however noted that the impact of the allocation of budgetary resources towards agriculture needed to be analysed in the context of the size of a country, the number of farmers and the weight of agriculture in the overall economic matrix.
For example, big economies such as South Africa or other countries that do not heavily depend on agriculture for socio-economic growth may not necessarily need to have such budgetary allocation.
“The issue is not really about allocating 10 percent of the national budget to agriculture. What is more important is how the allocations are utilized and the impact on the overall economy,” she said.
She said the availability of land was critical for the agricultural transformation of southern Africa.
“Land is one factor of production. People need land to cultivate, and therefore clear policies on access to land are critical to improve yields,” she said.
She said it is encouraging to see that some SADC member states are taking steps such as land reforms to avail land for farming.
Land reforms have seen once marginalized groups such as women and youth, who make up the majority of farmers, having access to land to carry out farming activities.
In addition to this, it is important to guarantee security of tenure to enable producers to invest in the land, as well as improve the productivity of their farms and improving their livelihoods.
Agriculture is the backbone of most economies in SADC and the rest of the African continent.
To encourage countries to speed up the implementation of various agricultural activities, programmes and projects, African leaders declared 2014 as the “Year of Agriculture and Food Security in Africa.”
The 34th SADC Summit is being held on 8-18 August, with the SADC Heads of State and Government Summit running from 17-18 August. Prior to this, there are meetings of senior officials, followed by the Council of Ministers.
The theme for the summit is “SADC Strategy for Economic Transformation: Leveraging the Region’s Diverse Resources for Sustainable Economic and Social Development through Beneficiation and Value Addition.”
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is becomes the SADC chair at this Summit for the coming year, taking over from his Malawian counterpart, President Peter Mutharika. sardc.net
