02 Jun 2026

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has called for urgent and coordinated
regional action to strengthen food security, climate resilience and
agricultural systems in the face of growing threats posed by global
supply chain disruptions, climate change and livestock diseases.

SADC Deputy Executive Secretary for Regional Integration, Angèle Makombo
N'Tumba made the call while addressing the joint meeting of SADC
Ministers responsible for agriculture, food security, fisheries and
aquaculture in Victoria Falls on Friday.

She warned that worsening climate shocks and geopolitical conflicts were
placing millions of people at risk of hunger and economic hardship.

N'tumba said disruptions in global supply chains and extreme weather
patterns were threatening food and energy security across the region.

She said the conflict in the Middle East had disrupted the movement of
key agricultural inputs and petroleum products through the Strait of
Hormuz, resulting in rising food and fuel prices and increasing pressure
on regional economies.

"Conflict in the Middle East has resulted in the restriction of movement
of agricultural inputs such as nitrogen, urea, ammonia fertilisers and
petroleum products, which are all key inputs to agriculture," she said.

N'Tumba noted that while some SADC member states had recorded bumper
harvests, others were battling crop losses, damaged infrastructure and
livestock deaths caused by excessive rainfall and climate-related
disasters.

She warned that climate experts were predicting a 77 percent likelihood
of a moderate-to-very-strong El Niño event developing towards the end of
2026 and into early 2027, which could trigger below-average rainfall and
severe harvest failures across central and southern parts of the region.

"We must start preparing now for such a possibility," she advised.

N'Tumba said agriculture remained the backbone of the SADC region,
sustaining more than 70 percent of the population through food
production, trade and related value chains.

She stressed the need for member states to strengthen regional
cooperation in tackling livestock diseases, particularly Foot and Mouth
Disease (FMD), which continues to affect trade, livelihoods and food
security.

N'tumba also called on member states to invest more in fisheries and
aquaculture to address food and nutrition security challenges.

"I would like to urge member states to invest in aquaculture, cold chain
systems, value addition and climate-resilient production systems to
close the fish supply gap and improve livelihoods, particularly for
women and youth," she said.

Speaking at the same occassion, South African Agriculture Minister John
Steenhuisen, who is also the chairperson of the Joint Committee, said
despite improvements in cereal production, the region still faced
serious food insecurity challenges.

"An estimated 58 million people across SADC member states still face
acute food insecurity due to issues around access and affordability.
This reality demands urgency from all of us," he said.

He said global shocks, including climate-related disasters, rising
fertiliser prices, disease outbreaks and supply chain disruptions, were
negatively affecting agriculture and food systems in Southern Africa.

Steenhuisen called on SADC countries to urgently harmonise fertiliser
regulations and fast-track the proposed Memorandum of Understanding(MoU)
on the Harmonisation of Fertiliser Regulatory Frameworks to reduce
production costs and improve regional trade.

"We cannot continue entering each planting season fragmented by
unharmonised standards, duplicative registration systems and regulatory
bottlenecks that unnecessarily increase costs for farmers and slow
regional trade," he said.

Zimbabwean Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources
Development, Anxious Masuka, echoed similar concerns, urging SADC member
states to strengthen climate resilience and develop robust food security
systems ahead of the anticipated El Niño-induced drought conditions.

"The development of a super El Niño in the 2026/2027 season, as
predicted by early climate models, should spur us to develop appropriate
mitigation and adaptation measures," he said.

Masuka warned that Zimbabwe and other Southern African countries were
projected to become drier in the coming decades due to climate change,
making it critical for governments to climate-proof agriculture.

"The imperative to climate-proof our agriculture cannot be
over-emphasised," he said.

He said the region continued to face food and nutrition security
challenges, including undernourishment, stunting, wasting and
disease-related mortalities, while transboundary crop and livestock
diseases remained a major threat requiring coordinated regional
responses.

Masuka also highlighted the impact of geopolitical conflicts on
agriculture, saying disruptions in fertiliser and energy supplies caused
by the Middle East conflict underscored the need for resilient
agriculture and food systems.

"This and other climate, pandemic, conflict and macro-economic shocks
necessitate the development of resilient agriculture and food systems,"
he said

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