Back to Index ,

Another year, another food crisis
Moyiga Nduru, Inter Press Service (IPS)
December 14, 2005

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=31425

JOHANNESBURG - For several years now, Southern Africa has faced acute food shortages that look set to continue in 2006. According to the United Nations, several countries in the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) will still be relying on food handouts next year to prevent millions of their citizens from starving to death.

Between 2002 and 2004 some 14 million people received emergency food from aid agencies, according to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

Of that total, some five million remained extremely vulnerable. "The dry spell, which decimated harvests in early 2005, has increased this number to over 12 million in seven countries – out of a total population of 70 million," according to a 2005 WFP brief.

The question that begs asking is whether anything can be done to prevent this situation recurring year after year.

"There are things we can do in the short term. We can grow more drought-resistant crops like sorghum, millet and cassava," WFP spokesman Mike Sackett told IPS. "Farmers should be less reliant on maize."

Maize, the staple food in Southern Africa, is ill-adapted to cope with drought – something that has spelt disaster for parts of the region that have experienced erratic rainfall in recent years.

"In the long-term there should be less reliance on rainfall and more reliance on irrigation," said Sackett, who is based in South Africa's commercial hub of Johannesburg. Irrigation requires a considerable investment, however – making it unaffordable for several states. With the exception of South Africa, Botswana and Namibia, SADC nations would probably need donor funding to set up viable irrigation systems.

Sackett noted that the distribution of seed and fertiliser also needed to be better managed: "For example, last year farmers received fertilisers late."

To end the ongoing cycle of food shortages and its attendant problems, agricultural officials in the SADC region have embarked on a comprehensive programme to assist farmers.

"One of our roles will be to vet contracts for our illiterate farmers. We will support them so that their contracts (such as for supplying food to U.N. agencies) are respected. We will also help them to understand the necessity of paying debts to avoid being blacklisted," Nelson Chisenga, an agricultural specialist at the Pretoria-based Southern African Federation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU), told IPS.

Earlier this month, SACAU invited about 20 delegates from six of its member countries – Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Malawi and Madagascar – to South Africa's capital, Pretoria, to inform them about key issues affecting agriculture, such as trade and marketing.

"Awareness levels among farmers are abysmally very poor. For example, they believe that trade doesn't concern them," Ajay Vashee of the Lusaka-based Zambia National Farmers Union told IPS. Zambia is said to have 800,000 small-scale farmers out of a population of about eight million.

"We want our farmers to look beyond our borders or even internationally," he added. "The major problem is instilling marketing skills…We would like to get the farmers to understand the dynamics of trade."

With this in mind, the union intends training farmers in trade negotiations, and familiarising them with the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The WTO is currently meeting in Hong Kong, where the agricultural tariffs and subsidies provided by wealthy countries are coming under discussion. These farm supports give farmers in the developed world a considerable advantage over their counterparts from poorer nations.

Zambia is already reaping the rewards of having adopted a number of sensible policies on farming. "Zambia did quite well in 2003 to 2004," Sackett said. "The country had a (food) surplus even though it had been hit by drought."

In October this year, however, the government of President Levy Mwanawasa appealed for emergency food aid for 1.7 million people. The WFP says it is responding to the food needs of 1.1 million people, while the United Nations Children's Fund is planning to address problems with water provision and sanitation, child health, nutrition and education.

Further south, in Zimbabwe, the situation is considerably worse – with aid agencies accusing the government of President Robert Mugabe of fuelling famine through bad policies.

"The humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe is extremely serious and it's deteriorating," Jan Egeland, U.N. under secretary for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief co-ordinator, told journalists in Johannesburg Dec. 7, after returning from Zimbabwe. "WFP is feeding two million people in Zimbabwe. It could go to four million."

The agency has appealed for 276 million dollars to help relieve food shortages in Zimbabwe, where AIDS is exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.

"Some 3,000 people die of AIDS every week; there are one million AIDS orphans. It's a serious situation," said Egeland.

Despite the drought, there is enough food in Southern Africa to meet demand – it’s just that supplies are being sent elsewhere. "Within the region we have the market, but farmers look internationally. I think the small-scale farmers should satisfy the regional market before looking outside," Chisenga said, taking a different position to that adopted by Vashee.

However, farmers claim that trade barriers prevent them from doing just this. "For example, Zimbabwe is able to export poultry product to Malawi, (but) Malawi is not allowed to export poultry products into Zimbabwe," Chisenga noted.

Visa requirements also present a headache, as do border delays. "Trucks take, for example, long at Chirundu: it can take an average of five days. At Beitbridge it can take a maximum of one day if your documents are in order," Chisenga said. Chirundu is the main border post between Zambia and Zimbabwe, and Beitbridge the main post between Zimbabwe and South Africa.

"Beitbridge is open 24 hours a day. You drive through and reach Churundu, and find that the border is closed. So you count that day lost – and you queue behind the vehicles that arrived before you,'' he added. "The delays at borders affect farmers a lot." (END/2005)

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP