The Crop Development Unit of FANR Directorate is mandated to promote the production, protection, processing and storage of all crops in the SADC region. This mandate makes the activities and outputs of the unit relevant and key to the regional challenge of attaining high and sustained economic growth and poverty reduction. In addition, the Crop Development Unit works closely with other Units of the FANR Directorate to contribute to food security.

The crop sector offers the region an opportunity for accelerated economic growth, food security and increased trade through the many opportunities that exist, especially when the sector has strong linkages with other sectors of the economy. Limited access to new farming technologies and inputs, re-current droughts, lack of marketing infrastructure and information, lack of harmonised policy and strategy and inadequate capacity for coordination are some of the hindrances to the achievement of food security and economic growth. These identified obstacles offer intervention hotspots for the unit to focus on for the purpose of making the region food secure.

Following centralised coordination and monitoring of sectoral programmes at SADC Secretariat, the Crop Development Unit of the FANR Directorate is responsible for coordinating, monitoring and facilitating crop development activities. Considering its mandate and the need to contribute to regional food security, the Unit is involved in developing projects and programmes with specific technical tasks to undertake. Currently, the Unit is running the SADC Seed Security Network (SSSN) whose purpose is to improve access and availability of seed. One of its major achievements has been the development of the SADC common systems for variety release, seed certification and sanitary and phytosanitary.

The Crop Development Unit is also actively developing technical documents and mobilising resources for capacity building for the Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) project, the establishment of the Regional Food Reserve Facility (RFRF) aimed at mitigating the effects of future food deficits in the region, and the Agricultural Water Management for Food Security Programme (AWMFS) for the purpose of promoting irrigation.

Droughts and crop failure – a common occurrence in the SADC region. Promotion of irrigation could mitigate the impact of droughts on food security.

Several other important regional tasks have been accomplished in the recent past, including study reports on production and use of bio-fuels and also the management of migrant pests in the SADC region.

Red-billed (Quelea) birds – One of the migratory pests in the SADC region and also considered the world’s most abundant bird.

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