Sustainable agric information system tops Sadc project
DR Elma Zanamwe is a project officer at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO). She is managing a regional project called “Support towards the Operationalisation of the SADC Regional Agricultural Policy” (STOSAR), which seeks to enhance information on agricultural production, sustainability and competitiveness for evidence-based decision-making. The SUNDAY MAIL(sm) spoke to DR ZANAMWE (EZ) about the project, its achievements, and how its implementation has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
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SM: Can you outline what your project entails?
EZ: FAO, through its strong, collaborative working relations with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) secretariat and other important strategic partners, is implementing STOSAR with funding from the European Union (EU).
This project is part of the 11th Economic Development Fund Programme Regional Indicative Programme to support the operationalisation of the SADC Regional Agricultural Policy (RAP).
The objectives of the project are to enhance timely access to quality agricultural information for evidence-based decision-making and to improve access to markets through the sustainable management of transboundary plant pests and animal diseases that have the potential to impact food and nutrition security in southern Africa.
The main beneficiaries of this project are the 16 SADC member States including Zimbabwe.
The STOSAR project has three main components through which FAO is developing the long-term capacity of SADC member States through several ways. Firstly, there is the establishment of a SADC Agricultural Information Management System (AIMS) that will see the standardisation and
harmonisation of agricultural data to ensure policymakers and agricultural value-chain actors have ready access to reliable information.
It is hoped the platform will stimulate agricultural intensification, improve food and nutrition security, and promote regional integration, trade liberalisation, and equitable economic growth.
The other components involve strengthening the management of transboundary pests and diseases to facilitate access to markets and the creation of trade opportunities for plant and animal commodities and products. This requires effective management of sanitary risks, accompanied by credible inspection and certification processes compliant with international standards, as well as competitiveness in quality, price, and regularity of supply.
The plant health component of the project is focusing on three insect plant pests (Fall armyworm, Oriental fruit flies, and Tomato leafminer), and two plant diseases (Maize lethal necrosis disease and Banana fusarium wilt TR4).
The animal health component focuses on three high-impact transboundary animal diseases (Foot and Mouth disease, Peste des Petits Ruminants, and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).
While these priority pests and diseases remain important, the incursion of new threats such as outbreaks of African swine fever and the African migratory and red locusts have seen the priorities of some member states change with time.
SM: How did the project come about?
EZ:
This can be attributed to a convergence of factors. First and foremost, the SADC aligns its agricultural development agenda to that of the region’s priorities. This is supported and realised through several policy initiatives, strategies, and plans, such as the SADC Vision 2050, and the revised Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2020-2030, which recognises agricultural development as one of the key pre-requisites for reducing poverty and enhancing industrialisation of the region.
The Regional Agricultural Policy (RAP), approved by the SADC Council in 2014, forms the overarching framework for the region’s agriculture sector. Continentally, the region’s commitments are aligned to the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP), the Malabo Declaration, and the Agenda 2063 of the African Union (AU); and globally, to the United Nation’s Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement which came into effect in January 2021, presents another opportunity for the SADC Member States to expand their geographic marketing footprint.
It is worth highlighting that although the SADC member States have the potential to be food secure, the agriculture sector itself faces many challenges ranging from, inefficient production, productivity, and competitiveness of agricultural products, limited access to reliable agricultural data, lack of appropriate policy and regulatory frameworks some of which undermine compliance with sanitary requirements, underdeveloped livestock value chains, and related infrastructure, and changing agro-ecological conditions resulting in the emergence, spread and endemic presence of trade-sensitive pests and diseases.
Managing high-impact transboundary plant pests and animal diseases is complex and can rapidly exhaust the capacities of individual member States for containment and eradication. Joint efforts by neighbouring member states are therefore necessary to effectively control the spread of pests and diseases along common borders and ports of entry.
It is because of these challenges and opportunities that the FAO, the SADC secretariat, and other development partners are committed to strengthening collaboration and the overall performance of the region’s agricultural sector.