THE SADC REGION TO APPEAL FOR FOOD AID

The Southern African Development Community is set to declare a Regional Disaster and Launch a Humanitarian Appeal for Millions hit by El Niño-induced Drought.

An Estimated 41 million people of the 181 million people in the region are food insecure, and out of this figure, more than 21 million people are in urgent need of assistance.

This is according to the Vulnerability Assessment Results released on 10^th June 2016 at the 10^th SADC meeting of regional vulnerability assessment and analysis held in Pretoria, South Africa.

The Chairman of the Southern African Development Community Lieutenant General Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama, President of Botswana will deliver the appeal for humanitarian amounting to 2.7 billion United States dollars.

Five Member States out of the fifteen member body, namely Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe have declared national drought emergencies.

South Africa has declared a drought emergency in 8 of the 9 provinces, while Mozambique declared a 90-day institutional red alert for some Southern and Central areas.

The Appeal is a formal request to the International Community to provide assistance to affected Member States, and it is meant to complement the response efforts at individual Member States level.

Dr Ian Khama, will officially announce the sad development at Gaborone International Convention Centre in Botswana on Tuesday the 26^th July 2016.

Donors such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the African Development Bank, Southern Africa Trust, World Food Program, The African Union including government Officials and Civil Society Organizations as well as the Private Sector will be in attendance.

My Analysis;

Zambia recorded a maize surplus of 634,681 metric tons of Maize during the 2015-2016 Farming seasons, becoming the only Country in the region to be Food secure.

According to a disputed 2015 World Hunger Index, Zambia is ranked the third hungriest country in the world after Chad and the Central African Republic.

Agriculture Minister Given Lubinda refuted the report further calling on the authors of the report to provide more clarity on the matter.

This food crisis in the region will put pressure on the Zambian government to secure the borders and prevent the surplus maize it harvested during the last farming season finding its way to needy neighbours.

THE Food Reserve Agency has targeted to buy 1.7 million bags of 50 kilograms of maize during this year’s crop marketing season across the Country.

"I declare Malawi in a state of national disaster following prolonged dry spells during the 2015, 2016 agriculture season," President Peter Mutharika said in a statement on Wednesday on (13.04.2016).

 After Zimbabwe, Malawi is the second southern African country to declare a state of national disaster, while South Africa said it was facing the worst drought in 100 years.

International bodies have said the following "The situation is quite dire and we believe the worst is still to come. It will take a long time before the situations improves," said David Orr, Southern Africa spokesman for the United Nation's World Food Program.

The government is on record saying it will not see its neighbours go hungry while it has food to share by way of exporting at a cost.

In this regard Zambia could have benefited from this crisis provided the Winter Maize project which was started by Late President Levy Mwanawasa was never abandoned by President Rupiah Banda.

Am seeing a situation where the Food Reserve Agency may not be able to meet the target of buying 1. 7 Million Bags of Maize because the purchase price is beyond by what private grain traders are offering on cash basis.

In the Eastern Province for instance grain traders are buying a 50 kilogram bag of Maize between 100-120 kwacha while the Agency is offering 85 kwacha for the same bag.

Realistically a Farmer will go for price being offered by the private buy or the so called brief case buyers that is the principle of business go for the higher price.

Illegal smuggling of Maize will not STOP because it is now a fast money VENTURE and no business minded person can avoid such a route in this biting economy.

Over the last Months many truck laden with Maize have been impounded and this will continue to happen as Smugglers seek new tricks of jumping barriers before them.

A week ago more than 20 thousand by 50 kilogram bags of maize allegedly meant for illegal export were seized.

Sturdy Mwale, the Chairman for the Taskforce against Maize Smuggling told journalists that the maize seized was heading to Zimbabwe, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Trucks by nature will be easily being impounded by authorities but NOT bicycle transporters who are so common in places like the Eastern province.

The Zambia National Service need extra funding to secure the surplus Maize from leaving the nation, it is a Task that must be executed at all costs.

If more Maize leaves the Country, it will put The Millers Association of Zambia under pressure and there will remain with no option but to increase the price of the staple food.

Last month, a Consumer Unit Trust Society report indicated that 83 per cent of Zambians say the price of mealie-meal is too high while 42 per cent say they can no longer afford to buy the nation’s staple food.

The crisis also provides a Market for the Millers to reach the market beyond borders if only the local demand is secured unlike what happened where some Milling Companies rushed to satisfying outside buyers at the expense of all weather buyers at home.

The crisis on the other hand could be used to look at the promotion of other crops such as millet, vegetables, sorghum and cassava.

When you consider Tanzania, it has promoted the cultivation of rice and other crops such that it is very rare that there is a food crisis there.

Many opportunities exist but people always resist change which must be embraced as a way of moving forward for the benefit of the nation and the Southern African region at large.

Meanwhile the African Union has adopted a new funding formula that will generate 1.2 billion United States and cut reliance on donors who currently provide about three-quarters of funding for its programs.

The AU’s heads of state on July 16 decided that 0.2 percent of a country’s eligible imports will go toward funding the African Union Commission’s programs.

This financing mode will become operational by 2017 must be used towards assisting member States to respond and recover from such natural disasters that rock the Continent from time to time like the drought in the Southern African Region.