Agricultural development...a priority for SADC #southernafrica

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has
urged stakeholders to redouble their efforts in supporting
farmers to boost production.
Farmers are at the centre of Africa's agricultural
transformation agenda. Therefore, clear agricultural policies
such as access to inputs including seeds and fertilizer, as
well as credit facilities and extension services are needed to
improve yields.
With the momentum now building towards the 34th SADC
Summit to be held in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe in August,
regional leaders are expected to review the general
agricultural situation in the region to ensure that challenges
hindering the sector are addressed.
The 34th SADC Summit is being held in the year declared by
the African Union as the "Year of Agriculture and Food
Security," and will see Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe
assume the SADC chair from his Malawian counterpart, and
lead the region for the coming year.
The SADC region has adopted a raft of measures to
revolutionize the agricultural sector, which contributes
between four percent and 27 percent of the regional Gross
Domestic Product (GDP), and about 13 percent of the total
export earnings.
The measures, which include investing more in research,
improving access to financial resources for smallholder
farmers, and increasing budget allocations to agriculture
has seen the region record some impressive advances in
food production.
For example, in the past decade, the agricultural growth rate
in the region has averaged about 2.6 percent, according to
the SADC Secretariat.
The general food security situation has remained relatively
stable with most Member States recording good harvests
every year.
A recent food security assessment for the 2013/14
agricultural marketing year reveals that there was an
increase in the production of maize - the staple food of
most countries in the SADC region.
Cassava production, another staple food in parts of Angola,
the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique,
the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia, was also
above the estimated requirements.