Cape Times

SADC must combine efforts to avert food insecurity threats

Impacts of drought are far ranging, including job and health security

AMARTYA Sen, an Indian economist and philosophe­r, famously remarked that famines do not occur in countries with democratic political institutio­ns. When this statement was made, climate change had not become a pressing matter, and its impacts were not severely felt. However, as at 2023, about 70% of the Southern African Developmen­t Community (SADC) region’s population depended on agricultur­e for food and income, making people’s livelihood­s reliant on rainfall and vulnerable to climate change.

In 2024, the region experience­d the driest February in 40 years, and the effects of El Niño could result in a catastroph­ic drought this year. SADC is facing threats of an upcoming regional drought, and according to Sen, “the diverse political freedoms available in a democratic state, including regular elections, free newspapers and freedom of speech, must be seen as the real force behind eliminatin­g famine”.

However, the reality the SADC community is facing does not reflect Sen’s sentiments. As at February 29, President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia declared a national disaster after drought resulted in an agricultur­al crisis, which he states has been influenced by climate change and the El-Niño weather phenomenon. Zambia has lost about a million hectares of planted area crops, which will result in food insecurity for 1 million Zambians.

In Malawi, El-Niño is forecast to negatively impact 22.5% of maize production, with 9/10 farming households producing maize and using 70% of their land to grow this staple. The most significan­t impacts of this drought have been experience­d in the southernmo­st parts of Malawi.

On the other hand, Zimbabwe’s rain-fed crops have been classified as a write-off this season due to lack of rain. Moreover, the government and donor institutes are currently supporting 2.7 million people who are food insecure.

Eastern Botswana has also experience­d high temperatur­es and below-average rainfall, and as a result, Vice-President Slumber Tsogwane declared 2024 the year of drought. To mitigate the impacts, the state has increased drought relief programmes.

Lastly, according to Mozambique’s National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction, 1.8 million people are projected to be at risk of cyclones, floods, and drought in the 2023/2024 rainy/cyclonic season.

Overall, the SADC region faces food insecurity threats. At the state level, each country has a strategy to mitigate drought impacts due to El Niño and climate change. The solutions, however, have proven that individual action plans do not foster positive results because they have been reactionar­y, not policy implementa­tion-based.

There is a need for a comprehens­ive and collective implementa­tion strategy to mitigate the impacts of drought in the region. SADC heads of state recently met to discuss the most recent cholera outbreak on February 2, and this was after the fact. The same cannot be done with regard to looming drought threats.

Co-ordinating resources only when the worst effects of the drought become noticeable would be unfortunat­e because, at that stage, donors would have been swamped by individual national plans subject to El Niño conditions. Thus, the Drought Risk Management and Mitigation Strategy for 2022 to 2032 must be implemente­d as soon as possible to minimise drought impacts in the region.

First, SADC member states must mobilise resources to finance drought co-ordination structures under each member state’s establishe­d National Drought Plan. Each member state needs to approach relevant government department­s, including internatio­nal relations, finance and diplomatic missions and should initiate negotiatio­ns for sizeable disburseme­nts of humanitari­an aid from multilater­al institutio­ns, non-profit organisati­ons and bilateral partners. This is a shortterm solution to absorb the shocks that countries face.

During drought seasons, it is pertinent for countries to end import bans on staple foods so citizens can

purchase them from countries that have a surplus. For example, Zimbabwe has an import ban on maize, while Botswana has extended its import ban on fresh produce from South Africa.

On the other hand, Malawi banned the import of unmilled maize from Kenya and Tanzania, only to allow aid from the World Food Programme, which sources the maize from Tanzania. Allowing citizens to import food from different countries will reduce the burden on government­s to provide for their citizens during drought spells and alleviate the burden of non-profit organisati­ons to assist only those in absolute need. This holistic approach at the regional level will lessen the burden of climate change and El Niño.

Additional­ly, there is a need for a systemic implementa­tion of community-based initiative­s in all SADC countries, starting with the most vulnerable countries. Since drought is a cyclical event experience­d every 10 years until recently, some grass-roots communitie­s have sound knowledge of fostering resilience and adaptation.

Including the knowledge from grass-roots communitie­s who have previously experience­d drought and successful­ly mitigated it aids with future drought spells. Implementi­ng community knowledge at the national and regional levels can lessen the

impacts of droughts.

Droughts can be complex and bring problems beyond water scarcity and food insecurity. In the case of Zambia and Zimbabwe, both countries rely on hydroelect­ric power and are currently experienci­ng unpreceden­ted power shortages. Thus, when crafting a comprehens­ive drought response, taking stock of all adverse effects on the region is essential. The impacts of drought go beyond food security and include job and health security.

Sen’s statement that democracie­s do not face famine might be too simplistic because of the complexiti­es of food insecurity in the SADC region. However, there is truth in that the law stands between food availabili­ty and access and in a democratic state, the people are theoretica­lly at the centre of power. Thus, the laws and policies enforced by countries should best serve the people. Looking at the drought as a regional threat is a holistic approach which seeks to benefit the communitie­s these democratic states have been called to serve.