Page 78 - 40th Summit Brochure 2020

areas which were already experiencing high izing the RAP. T e milestones include the for-
numbers of food-insecure populations during malisation of the Regional Steering Commit-
previous seasons. tee of FNSS by Member States, the f nalisation
T e SADC region has been hit by the of the development/upgrade of national food
Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID- security policies and strategies. It is expected
19) which has further exacerbated food in- that by September 2020 all Member States will
security in the region. T e pandemic is have their national food and nutrition security
likely to erode community coping capacities strategies aligned to the Regional FNSS.
and deepen food and nutrition insecurity of In addition, a study on how small-scale
vulnerable households and individuals. T e f sheries contribute to food and nutrition se-
number of vulnerable people is likely to in- curity in the SADC region was completed
crease and include those who typically are during the reporting period. T e study high-
able to cope as they may f nd themselves lighted the need for increased f sh supply in
struggling to meet their needs given the un- all countries, thereby enhancing accessibility
precedented challenging environment char- to f sh and f sh products to address nutritional
acterised by loss of income from both and food needs of the region.
formal and informal sources. T e immedi- Further, to support the nutritional status
ate impact of COVID-19 will largely be felt of the region, micronutrient levels for food
by the urban poor as they depend on infor- fortif cation standards and guidelines to ad-
mal employment and businesses that have dress micronutrient def ciency and trade
been disrupted by the movement restric- barriers have been produced.
tions and lockdowns that were put in place T e Secretariat, in collaboration with
around the region to control the virus and the Government of Tanzania and with f -
SADC Member States acted with resolve to nancial support from EDF 11, commemo-
contain the virus. . rated World Food Day at regional level at
Despite the region having enough ex- Singida in Tanzania in October 2019. T e
portable cereal stocks (mainly available in theme for the commemoration was “Our
South Africa), national lockdowns insti- Actions are our Future, Healthy Diets for a
tuted to control the spread of coronavirus Zero Hunger World” and focused on pro- 75
are likely to reduce access to food by a ma- moting healthy diets to contribute to the
jority of those who are marginalized and socio-economic development of communi-
vulnerable. In this regard, to mitigate the ties, societies and the world at large.
impact of COVID-19, SADC has put in
place Guidelines on Harmonisation and Fa- SADC Harmonised Seed Regulatory
cilitation of Cross-border Transport Oper- System
ations Across the Region during the A total of 54 crop varieties have been re-
COVID-19 Pandemic to ensure that the leased and registered through the SADC
food supply chain is not disrupted. Member Harmonized Seed Regulatory System
States have also put in place various re- (HSRS) to date as shown by the Table.
sponse measures such as protection of basic
consumption needs of vulnerable popula-
tions, ramping up social protection targeted
at the marginalised population as well as Number of Crop Varieties Registered
safeguards for continued agricultural pro- through HSRS
duction (input supply chains) and other Crop variety Number of crop varieties
macroeconomic measures to protect col- registered
lapse of economies.
Maize 37
Food and Nutrition Security Strategy Potatoes 4
Various key outcomes were realised under the Wheat 4
implementation of some components of the
SADC Food and Nutrition Security Strategy Beans 3
(FNSS), supported by the European Develop- Soya 2
ment Fund (EDF) 11 project for operational-
Groundnuts 2
Sorghum 2
Total 54