18 Oct 2020

An estimated 45 million SADC citizens, about 12 per cent of the total population, are food and nutritionally insecure.

Presenting a statement on October 16, on the occasion of World Food Day, the SADC executive secretary, Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax said, this was revealed by the 2020 Synthesis Report on the State of Food and Nutrition Security and Vulnerability in Southern Africa, which was conducted by the SADC Regional Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis (RVAA) Programme.

She said this year’s World Food Day came against a backdrop of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic and the acute food insecurity in the SADC region.
“As we commemorate this day, I wish to underscore that any progressive society is measured by its ability to provide access to food as a basic necessity.

One of the first measures that SADC took in response to COVID-19 was to ensure uninterrupted cross border movement of essential goods and services such as food by adopting regional Guidelines on Harmonization and Facilitation of Cross Border Transport Operations across the Region.

We must continue to work together to ensure minimal disruption to the food supply chains so as to guarantee access to food and functional food markets,” said Dr Tax.

The SADC region, she said, had one of the highest stunting prevalence in the world, with over 30 per cent of under-5 children stunted, which is considered too high by the World Health Assembly. Further, she added, in nine out of the 16 SADC Member States, diets were not diversified enough and were too cereal-based which increased the risk of micronutrient deficiencies.

Dr Tax pointed out that it was worth noting that the food security sector in the region had not been spared from the multi-sectoral and multi-dimensional impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr Tax said the SADC assessment on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic indicated that the response measures, including lockdowns and movement restrictions that were put in place by governments limited access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food, and impacted on employment and household incomes.

Due to limited access to food, she said, some households had been pushed into adopting negative eating practices, including reduced quantity and quality of foods thereby failing to meet their dietary needs for an active and healthy life.

As such, Dr Tax said this year’s World Food Day should serve as a reminder of the commitments SADC Member States made towards ending hunger and food insecurity.

“We are only 10 years away to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 2 of ending hunger by 2030; five years away from the Malabo

Declaration commitment of ending hunger in Africa by 2025; and five years away from meeting the regional objective of, among others, improving access to adequate and appropriate food in terms of quality and quantity and improving utilisation of nutritious, healthy, diverse and safe food by 2025, as spelt out in the SADC Regional Agricultural Policy,” she said.

It was imperative for the region to take stock of the progress made so far and assess as to whether the region would achieve those food security and nutrition targets, she added.

Dr Tax said the SADC region must ensure that nutritious food reached the poor and vulnerable communities, while stepping up collective efforts for continued and increased production in the new crop-growing season. ENDS