STATEMENT

SADC MINISTERIAL TASK FORCE MEETS ON FOOD PRICES

17 July 2008 

A SADC Task Force of Ministers of Trade, Finance and Agriculture met on 13 July 2008 in Lusaka, Zambia to discuss measures to mitigate currently increasing food prices, the impending food crisis and ways to improve the food security situation in the SADC region. This Ministerial Task Force was set up by the SADC Heads of State and Government at the International Conference on Poverty and Development held in Mauritius on 20 April 2008.

The Ministerial Task Force noted that prices of food commodities worldwide have risen sharply over the past couple of years and even more sharply from January 2007 to date. There are a number of factors that are believed to contribute to the observed increase in world food prices. Key among them are the increasingly poor weather conditions, high energy prices, worldwide reduction in levels of food stocks, massive shift in crop cultivation towards bio-fuels, increased consumption of food in emerging economies such as India and China, commodity speculation, and inadequate investment in agriculture in recent decades. However, prices in the SADC region haven’t risen quite as sharply as world prices, which provides for a window of opportunity for measures to be taken for minimising future rises in food prices.

Current estimates show that the SADC region is expected to increase its cereal harvest by 18% compared to last year, which will result in significant increase in the regional food security situation. The Task Force observed that some Member States have food deficits while others have surplus cereals. Member States with surpluses could export to those with deficits thereby improving the overall food security situation in the SADC region. In this regard, the Task Force called for removal of temporary export bans on major food crops to enable those with shortfalls access.

The Ministerial Task Force came up with several measures the Member States and the SADC Secretariat should take in order to reduce current and future food crises in the region. Some of these measures include:

• increasing the levels of investment in agriculture, including aligning national budgets to the 10% of national budgets agreed to by SADC Heads of State and Government in May 2004 at their Extra-Ordinary Summit on Agriculture and Food Security.;

• improving access to agricultural inputs especially fertiliser through the provision of temporary subsidies to smallholder farmers;

• expediting the harmonisation of Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary Standards measures and removal of non tariff barriers within the region;

• encouraging financial institutions, banks, micro-finance institutions and NGOs to prioritise agriculture and extend credit to small scale farmers especially women and vulnerable groups;

• introducing social security systems targeted at the vulnerable to cushion them from the impact of increased food prices;

• facilitating easy flow of information among Member States and with SADC Secretariat;

• facilitating the establishment of a Regional Food Reserve Facility; and

• creating appropriate incentives for private sector involvement in services related to agricultural and food security; and

The Ministerial Task Force also urged International Cooperating Partners and donors to keep and meet the aid they have committed to give developing countries through various fora.

Finally, the task force encouraged Member States to explore and take advantage of both the increasing food prices and the rising demand for bio-fuels. This, they noted, is an opportunity for most African countries that are not fully employing their agricultural land and have high numbers of an unemployed labour force. The SADC Secretariat was directed to expedite the development of a regional policy on biofuels.

SADC Secretariat

July 17, 2008