Today, SADC Ministers responsible for food security and agriculture are meeting in Maputo, Mozambique. The meeting, which was preceded by a 4 day meeting of Senior Officials, was attended by Ministers from Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Seychelles, Swaziland, Mauritius, Zambia and South Africa.
South Africa is represented by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ms Tina Joemat-Pettersson.
The meeting, which looked at various topics within the over arching framework, looked at the food security situation in the region during the 2012/13 and 2013/14 marketing years – results from the latter will be confirmed in July.
The results demonstrate that the regional food security for the 2012/13 marketing year ending March 2013 was generally satisfactory although overall cereal, including maize, wheat, rice and soghurm/millet, production stood at 31.35 million tonnes, 73% less than the 2011 harvest of 22.81 million tonnes.
Maize production during the period from 2005 and 2012 increased by 32% from 19.70 million tonnes to 26.10 million tonnes, thereby indicating an average annual increase of 4%. Combined production of other main cereals of what, rice and sorghum/millet has remained stagnant at around 5 million tonnes.
What the situational analysis shows is that while the region has had maize surpluses in 8 of the 9 marketing years since 2003/04 deficits in the other cereal crops of wheat, rice and sorghum/millet have remained high.
Rainfall and erratic weather conditions continue to be a major compounding issues in agriculture. Other challenges include flooding and water logging conditions due to high rainfall in several countries including Botswana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Additionally, prolonged dry spells in Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe that resulted in wilting crops and pasture degradation in many areas.
Trends indicate that food insecurity and vulnerability is still a lingering problem in the region. Currently, 6 162, 237 citizens of the region are food insecure.
The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ remarks at the meeting called for a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Maputo Declaration. “At the Declaration, our heads of states endorsed the CAADP framework. This meeting has to take stock of what has been done in the last 10 years. The Maputo declaration envisaged that that 10% of annual budgets of each country should be prioritised for agriculture,” said the Minister.
The Minister also spoke of the need for the region to reconsider the impact of climate change in agriculture and its impact on sustainable food security in particular.
The Minister also emphasised the importance of Food Security for all the People of the SADC Region.
