People in Southern Africa demand for more Social Accountability in the Agriculture Sector

25 Apr 2019 , , , , , ,

Lusaka, March 2019.

People in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have called for Member States to progressively allocate budgets to agriculture to reach the Malabo Declaration target of at least 10% % to sustain annual agricultural GDP growth of at least 6% annually

Small scale farmers, CSOs and law makers from national parliaments and the Regional SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) says national investments in agriculture should align with farmers own priorities and focus on financing diversified smallholder support programs, such as extension services, research, climate change adaptation, input support, improving access to finance and market

They were speaking at the 3rd Regional Budget Summit on Strengthening Social Accountability in Health and Agriculture in Southern Africa, co-hosted by the Partnership for Social Accountability (PSA) Alliance and the SADC PF.

The Summit was held in Lusaka, Zambia bringing representatives from Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia recently

In the Communiqué released at the Summit, delegates urged SADC Secretariat to urgently operationalize the established SADC Food and Nutrition Security Regional Steering Committee as formed during the SADC Food and Nutrition Security Strategy Forum in Malawi (2014), which is to advise on regional food and nutrition policy frameworks and strategies

They also called upon SADC Member States to support innovative research and development to develop and redirection of funds towards the adoption of agro ecological practices such as use of community-based seed systems, improvement of soil fertility through increasing soil organic matter, integrated pest management as opposed to hybrid seed and chemically intensive agriculture

The Summit in Lusaka recommend the supreme audit institutions of Member States to conduct performance audits of their agricultural extension services and conduct forensic audits of all farmers support programs with a focus on Farm Input Support Programs (FISP) to identify and address the systematic internal control weaknesses that allow for misuse of funds and in enabling small holder farmers particularly women to sustainably contribute to the realization of food security goals in the region

The Communiqué was submitted to SADC Secretariat, and the SADC Heads of State and Government Summit scheduled for August 2019.

The PSA alliance for social accountability in southern Africa is made of ESAFF, Actionaid South Africa, SAfaids and PSAM – Rhodes University in South Africa. To read the entire communique click here http://esaffsouthafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Communique-Budget-Summit_07-March-2019_Lusaka.pdf

‘Research needed to mitigate food insecurity in Africa’

26 Feb 2019 , , , , , ,

The rise in global food insecurity is a serious cause for concern, given the ever increasing global population, especially on the African continent.

Ongoing research was therefore of the essence to counteract the scourge in future.

This was according to Prof Sanlie Middelberg of the School of Accounting Sciences at North-West University’s campus in Potchefstroom.

Middelberg, who was recently promoted to full professor at the university, said during her inauguration ceremony that 17% (1,3 billion) of the global population of nearly 7,6 billion people lived in Africa.

“The global population is predicted to grow to almost 9,8 billion by 2050. This is an increase of 2,2 billion from 2017, of whom 1,3 billion (57%) is expected to [live] in Africa,” she added.

While several African countries were expected to triple in size between 2017 and 2100, the populations of Zambia, Angola, Burundi, Nigeria, Somalia and Tanzania were expected to grow by a factor of five.

The population of Nigeria, the most populous of these countries, was expected to outnumber that of Europe by the end of the century.

In 2017, almost 10% of the world’s population (770 million people) experienced severe food insecurity as measured by the international Food Insecurity Experience Scale.

This scale estimated people’s ability to access food. Severe food insecurity was defined as someone going “for entire days without eating due to lack of money or other resources”.

A total of 375 million of the world’s food insecure people lived in Africa, representing three out of every 10 people on the continent, she said.

The population of sub-Saharan Africa was the youngest in the world, according to Middelberg, with 62% younger than 25 years of age.

The region’s population was expected to double over the next 35 years, which would mean an additional 17 million youths reaching an employable age every year by 2035.

“The agriculture sector has a pivotal role to play both in providing food security and creating employment. However, to achieve these goals, research into agricultural finance, in particular, is of the essence, especially in South Africa,” she said.

Story by: Annelie Coleman

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