Wezi Tjaronda
7 October 2008
Windhoek — Today, Namibia holds its in-country consultations on the establishment of the proposed regional strategic food reserves for the SADC region.
SADC member countries, at an extra-ordinary summit on agriculture and food security in May, instructed the secretariat to consider establishing a regional food reserve facility (RFRF) having realised that disaster preparedness and food security could be greatly enhanced through collective food stockholding programmes.
In July, the SADC ministerial taskforce on food security met in Lusaka and called on the secretariat to expedite the in-country consultations on the establishment of the RFRF. Namibia's was scheduled for October 7.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry is convening a workshop during which a SADC consultant will introduce the memorandum of understanding for the establishment of the RFRF and technical issues including the cost of the RFRF to participants from different government ministries, agricultural unions, grain producers and processors.
The establishment of the facility has been on the cards since the 1980s when member states looked at several proposals to establish regional strategic food reserves that included prevention and preparedness to deal with the growing frequency of natural disasters.
A report on the framework for the establishment of the facility says early proposals were based on considerations of sufficient physical maize stock or 12 months consumption, but this was viewed as very costly and unsustainable.
According to the report, initial reserve was pegged at 500000 tonnes of white maize, wheat, rice, sorghum and millet built up over three years, which would cost US$89 million for physical stocks and financial reserves.
The document says it is assumed that member states with surplus grain would hold physical stocks in their countries but the stocks are meant for the regional reserve and managed at regional level.
The report says the facility will help member states in the region to manage the macro-economic shocks frequently created by wide fluctuations in national food production and stockholding activities.
Countries will also be able to plan their planting programmes, new markets will be opened and there will be more stable food prices and harmonised trade policies.
Countries expected to derive benefits from the RFRF include countries with surplus, those facing food deficits and indirect participants.
The objectives of the facility are to reduce the vulnerability of SADC member states to food shortages caused by natural disasters, establish a collective regional stockholding and financial facility, strengthen national and regional market information systems and adopt effective national agricultural production, marketing, pricing, stockholding and trade policies that enhance food security and cross-border trade.
The expected outcome of the Namibian in-country consultation workshop is to develop a national position taking into consideration financial implications.
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