SADC Ministers Confront Regional Food Security Crisis

In a crucial high-level virtual meeting held on 30 May 2025, SADC Ministers responsible for Agriculture and Food Security, Fisheries, and Aquaculture convened to assess the region’s worsening food security situation.

The discussions were prompted by the compounded impacts of prolonged droughts, devastating storms, and rising agricultural challenges across Southern Africa.

Chaired by Zimbabwe’s Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Development, Honourable Dr. Anxious Jongwe Masuka, the ministerial dialogue took a hard look at the state of food and nutrition security in the wake of the 2023/2024 El Niño-induced drought. The weather pattern led to significant crop failure and livestock losses across the region, severely affecting communities and national economies.

“The region is facing growing food insecurity driven largely by the negative effects of climate change,” Minister Masuka said. “We must now explore practical and collaborative solutions to strengthen our resilience and secure the nutrition of our people.”

Ministers noted that while rainfall improved between January and February 2025 in parts of the region, much of the damage had already been done. Further compounding the crisis were several deadly cyclones—including Cyclones Chido, Dikeledi, Garance, Honde, Elvis, and Faida—which brought widespread flooding, infrastructure damage, fatalities, crop diseases, and mass displacement in Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

SADC Deputy Executive Secretary for Regional Integration, Ms. Angèle Makombo N’tumba, commended the Ministers for prioritising regional food security. She highlighted SADC’s ongoing initiatives under the Regional Agricultural Policy and the SADC Industrialisation Strategy, calling for coordinated efforts in the face of recurring climatic and agricultural shocks.

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The Ministers reviewed the now-concluded 2017–2022 Regional Agricultural Investment Plan (RAIP), which recorded mixed outcomes due to resource and policy limitations. They approved the new Regional Agri-food Systems Investment Plan (RAIP 2023–2030), aligning with the Kampala Declaration and other continental commitments under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

They called on Member States to expedite national implementation plans and operationalise the updated RAIP with support from the SADC Secretariat.

To strengthen regional food systems, the Ministers adopted the SADC Rice Development Strategy to drive self-sufficiency in rice production and approved key frameworks including:

A revised Regional Fertilizer and Soil Health Programme;
Guidelines for registering biopesticides;
A new strategy for managing Highly Hazardous Pesticides;
The Sustainable Agricultural Mechanisation Roadmap (SAM4CSA);
A Post-Harvest Loss Management Strategy to reduce food waste and improve storage.

Ministers urged Member States to integrate these policies into national strategies with immediate effect, citing the urgency of building climate-smart agriculture systems and value chains across the region.

Attention was also given to the continued rollout of the Harmonised Seed Regulatory System (HSRS), a regional mechanism that facilitates seed trade and quality standards. Ministers urged those countries that have not ratified the SADC Plant Variety Protection Protocol (PVP) and Seed Charter to do so swiftly.

In the area of biodiversity, the Ministers encouraged Member States to finalise national policies on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) and assigned a greater coordinating role to National Plant Genetic Resource Centres. They directed the Secretariat to initiate processes for the SADC Plant Genetic Resources Centre (SPGRC) to join international frameworks such as Article 15 institutions under the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). South Africa was applauded for officially joining the treaty.

Efforts are also underway to operationalise the long-awaited regional animal gene bank, aimed at preserving indigenous livestock genetics and promoting livestock resilience across varying climates.

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Turning to the fisheries and aquaculture sectors, Ministers reviewed the implementation of the SADC Protocol on Fisheries and approved several proposals to strengthen the blue economy, including:

A genetic improvement programme for Indigenous fish species;
A strategic conformity guide to improve trade in fishery products across One-Stop Border Posts (OSBPs);
The development of a SADC Recipe of Aquatic Foods to promote nutritional diversity.

The meeting acknowledged continued support from key development partners, particularly the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and implementation partners of the PROFISHBLUE Project—including ARSO, FAO, UNIDO, WorldFish, and WWF.

Across the board, Ministers expressed urgency in scaling up national investment in early warning systems, disaster response, water harvesting, and infrastructure resilience. They emphasized the importance of building regional capacities to manage the increasingly frequent and intense weather events that threaten food production.

Ministers also directed the SADC Secretariat to provide technical support to Member States for strengthening flood mitigation, pest management, and emergency preparedness.

As the region braces for another uncertain agricultural cycle, the commitments made at this high-level meeting mark a renewed determination to shift from crisis response to long-term food and nutrition resilience anchored by innovation, policy harmonisation, and strategic investment.