by ANDnetwork.com
SADC has called on donor governments worldwide to respond quickly and generously with food aid donations in kind or cash to avoid widespread hunger from developing into a humanitarian disaster.
More than 10 million people will need humanitarian assistance in six countries across Southern Africa over the coming year following yet another year of poor agricultural production caused by erratic weather together with late and, in some cases, unaffordable inputs, such as fertiliser and seeds, two United Nations agencies and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) have warned. Reports compiled by the UN agencies Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) — following recent joint Crop and Food Supply Assessment Missions (CFSAMs) in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Zambia — show that countries were not able to grow enough food to meet domestic needs and that even allowing for considerable commercial imports, serious food shortages will persist until the next harvest in May 2006.
Other Vulnerability Assessment Committee (VAC) reports — compiled by SADC together with the UN, non-government organisations (NGOs), and the governments of Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe — confirm the need for large-scale food assistance across the region at the household level. The region also needs to formulate national policies on staple food prices, agricultural reform, and trade at the national and regional level. Collectively, the 13 member states of SADC produced a cereal surplus of 2,1 million tones compared with 1,1 million tonnes a year ago. Most of the excess was produced by South Africa, which harvested a surplus of about 5,5 million tones this year.