Zimbabwe develops 5-year strategy to revive coffee industry

News Update as @ 1530 hours,Tuesday 8 July 2014Feedback: [email protected]: [email protected]

By Elita Chikwati

Stakeholders in the coffee industry have come up with a five-year Zim-babwe Coffee Sector Development Strategy to revive and boost coffee production in former and new growing areas to improve livelihoods of more than 50 000 people.

This came after a realisation that cof-fee production which used to be the fifth foreign currency earner, was declining due to consecutive droughts, limited supplementary irrigation infra-structure, limited funding, cots of inputs and lack of expertise among other factors.

The strategy involves the mainte-nance of existing coffee plantations, establishment of 4 700- hectares of coffee with women and youths par-ticipation and engaging in value addi-tion and infrastructure development among other things.

Officiating at the Coffee Strategy Ver-ification Workshop recently, Acting Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Dr Igna-tius Chombo urged investors to take advantage of the conducive coffee growing conditions in Zimbabwe to partner local coffee farmers for the realisation of profit and growth of the economy.

He said Zimbabwe had the ideal cli-matic conditions and good soils to grow high quality coffee that could compete very well worldwide.

“Coffee is an important export crop for Zimbabwe with tremendous potential for employment creation and genera-tion of foreign currency.

“The ministry will provide the nec-essary policy support to enable the growth of the coffee sub-sector and support research and development including a dedicated extension for the coffee sector,” he said.

Dr Chombo said the coffee strategy was in line with the national blue print-the ZimAsset while it was also being aligned to the Zimbabwe Agriculture Investment Plan which is being final-ised.

“Under both ZimAsset and ZAIP, value addition is an important component.

This needs to be taken on board as some of the quick wins together with market access-issues which remain major concerns for coffee farmers.

“The value chain approach would create synergies targeted at improv-ing livelihoods of all coffee farmers, including women and youth farmers,” he said.

Zimbabwe produces Arabic coffee which is grown mostly in the Eastern Highlands districts of Chipinge, Chim-animani, Mutare and Mutasa.

About 630 hectares are currently under cotton with more than 1 000 households depending on the sector for their livelihoods.

Zimbabwe exports its raw coffee to Netherlands, United States of Amer-ica, Germany, South Africa, Canada, Australia and Britain with potential markets in Japan and China. •

Zim develops 5-year strategy to revive coffee industry

Minister Chombo

By Lynn Murahwa

Nissan has partnered with five Zimba-bwean dealerships in Harare as part of its new Dealer Direct distribution strat-egy.

Nissan South Africa has set up a new Dealer Direct distribution strategy that will allow the South African branch of the company to conduct dealing with the five distributors in Zimbabwe. The dealerships are Amalgamated Motor Corporation (AMC), Clover Leaf Motors, Croco Motors, Golden Stairs Garage

and Amtec Motors. Speaking at the launch of the partnership this morn-ing, Nissan Sub Saharan Africa general manager Jim Dando said the partner-ship would strengthening the brand within the country.

"Nissan has experienced significant growth in the Zimbabwean market and it now commands 22 percent of the market.

"There is a growing middle class in Africa and automotive firms similar to Nissan are targeting this market. Zim-

babwe is an important market in Nis-san’s Power 88 Africa growth strategy aimed at doubling sales and signifi-cantly increasing market share on the continent by 2016,” he said.

Dando added that Nissan is set to release 18 new products in the Zim-babwean market within the next four years. "Nissan is set to launch 18 new products between now and 2018. Some of the new products to be launched include new versions of the Qashqai and the X-Trail. Nissan will also bring back the Datsun brand through

the Datsun Go hatchback. The Datsun Go will be available in Zimbabwe from November. These new products will all be released through the five local deal-ers," he said.

Nissan, however said it will not be establishing a manufacturing plant in Zimbabwe because the duty environ-ment does not support a manufactur-ing plant.

Clover Leaf Motors chief executive officer Stanford Sibanda said at the launch the partnership will improve relations between the Zimbabwean and South African motor industries as well as the experience of Nissan cus-tomers within the country.

“The new Direct Dealer arrangement will result in significant benefits to Nis-san customers in Zimbabwe. Direct dealings with Nissan South Africa will result in more competitive prices for Nissan vehicles, improved service lev-els for Nissan Customers and a better understanding of the Zimbabwean motor market by Nissan South Africa,” said Sibanda. •

2 NEWS

Nissan extends tentacles into Zim

Datsun Go hatchback

BH24

4 NEWS

Zimbabwe-based gold miner Caledo-nia Mining has declared its fifth div-idend payment of one and one half Canadian cents (0.8p).

In 2014, Caledonia repeated it intends to pay an annual aggregate dividend of six Canadian cents (3.3p) per share, payable in quarterly instal-ments.

The miner is debt-free and at end March had cash of $26,7mln held with its bankers in the United King-dom, Canada and South Africa.

Caledonia's primary asset is a 49 per-cent interest in the Gwanda-based Blanket gold mine in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwean shareholders in Cale-

donia's primary asset - Blanket mine - do not benefit from the group's dividend payments since they are shareholders in Blanket mine and not in Caledonia.

Besides the Blanket Mine in Zimba-bwe, Caledonia also has assets in South Africa and Zambia. ― BH24 Reporter/Proactiveinvestors •

BH24 Reporter

The new Zimbabwe Mining Devel-opment Corporation (ZMDC) board is set to make appointments of sub-stantive employees by end of August to make for better decision making within the organisation, an official said yesterday.

Minister of Mines and Mining Devel-opment Walter Chidhakwa dissolved the ZMDC board, along with the boards of the Minerals Marketing Cor-poration of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) and Marange Resources to make way for assessment of operations at the three organisations. ZMDC general man-ager Jerry Ndlovu was also sent on special leave in January.

A new board, chaired by David Murangari, was set up in April.

Addressing a question from parlia-mentarians on why most executives were in an acting capacity, acting general manager Wilson Chinzou said the company was still in a transition period but the board would make appointments soon.

“We have been in a transition period since the board’s appointment in April. The board is actually going through process of appointing substantive individuals in these posts, especially in management. I hope in the next month or so we will have more sub-stantive executives,” he said.

Chinzou replace Ndlovu and has been acting general manager since January. He said the acting human resource manager has been acting since end of June when the former HR manager retired. He however said the post of chief operating officer has been changing hands from one acting to another since 2010 and the new board would address the issue. •

Caledonia Mining Corporation pays out fifth dividend

New ZMDC board to make substantive appointments 'soon'

Minister Chidhakwa

5 AGRICULTURE

By Funny Hudzerema

Tobacco production for the upcoming 2015 season is set to reach new highs as the number of tobacco growers has risen 16 percent to 106 455 from 91 278 in the prior season.

Tobacco for the current season has topped 200 million kilogrammes - which is Zimbabwe's highest level since the beginning of the new millennium - with indications pointing to even higher yields next year.

Latest figures from the Tobacco Mar-keting Industry Board (TIMB) show that Mashonaland West province has the highest recorded number of new tobacco growers for the upcoming season at 11 713. In that province communal farmers dominate the new

growers list with 8 294 new growers while A1 and A2 stand at 1 069 and 1 828, respectively. There are 522 new small-scale communal tobacco grow-ers in the province to date.

Mashonaland Central province has recorded a total of 8 231, with the majority of them being communal farmers at 4 682. A2 and A1 recorded

2 114 and 921 respectively. Again for Mashonaland West, small-scale com-munal farmers constituted the lowest figure at 514 new growers.

Manicaland province has the third highest figure of new growers at 5 465, the majority being communal farmers at 3 254, followed by A2 and A1 con-tributing 1,459 and 560 new growers,

respectively. Small-scale communal growers for the province currently stand at 192. Mashonaland East has 4 135 new growers for the upcom-ing season, dominated by communal farmers at 2 109, while A2 contributed 1 056 and A1 contributing 701 new tobacco growers this season. Masho-naland East's small-scale new growers are 269.

Midlands’s province has recorded a total number of 338 new growers in this year’s growing season, while Mas-vingo has a total number of 265 new tobacco growers. As per norm tobacco planting commences on September 1.

Meanwhile, TIMB says eight contrac-tors are currently active and continue to receive tobacco from growers, while the other eight contractors have either concluded their 2014 purchases or are now receiving tobacco on selected days. Official figures show that con-tractors' seasonal output now stands at 157 million kg averaging $3,33/kg. During the same period last year con-tractors had purchased 103,3 million kg at an average price of $3,77/kg. The total seasonal sales have increased to 207,5 million kg worth $658 million. •

Registered tobacco growers up 16%

BH24

7 NEWS

By Oliver Kazunga

Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed hos-pitality concern, African Sun will focus on foreign markets after it incurred a $0.77 million loss in the half-year end-ing March 31, 2014 due to a decline in local business as liquidity challenges facing the economy persist.

African Sun said its revenue for the period under review was $25,33 mil-lion which is a four percent reduction from the comparable period last year of $26,44 million.

“The drop is attributed to a five percent decline in the depressed Zimbabwe segment. The group reported a loss for the period of $0,77 million down from a profit of $0,91 million last year,” the group’s chairman Bekithemba Nkomo in a statement accompanying its interim results.

“Exceptional costs amounted to $202,945 relating to a affair value adjustment and selling costs for the 16,54 percent investment in Dawn Properties Limited which was classified as a non-current assets held for sale during the period under review,”

He said the group’s Earnings, Before

Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortizations for the period reduced by 38 percent to $2,17 million from $3,48 million.

“The decline is attributable to depressed revenue performance as well as the opening of a new hotel in Ghana.

Amber Hotel Accra Airport is still in the 'soft opening phase' and the operating model is yet to achieve optimum effi-ciencies. Operating costs increased by two percent from the same period in 2013 to $16,90 million from $16,61 million.”

He said it is envisaged that the foreign market would continue to sustain the group’s Average Daily Rate and Reve-nue Per Available Room as the domestic market was likely to remain depressed

into the next 24 months. “To mitigate the depressed domestic business, the group will leverage on its aggressive selling of the foreign market improving arrivals from our traditional inbound

markets and any other upcoming inter-national markets,” he said.

The group’s net debt went down by 14,5 percent from September 2013 closing at $1,47 million during the period under review owing to a net reduction in borrowings amounting to $5,14 million and reduced cash bal-ances.

African Sun directors have also approved the disposal of the remaining investment in Dawn Properties in order to reduce borrowings.

“The investment was carried at $6,07 million at September 30, 2013, and was subsequently adjusted by $205,943 to a final amount in non-cur-rent assets held for sale of $5,83 mil-lion,” he said. •

African Sun records $770 000 loss

AdM-DI156506-

BH24

The equities market marginally bumped 0.41 percent bucking yes-terday's dip on the back of increased volumes.

The industrial index gained 0.77 points to close at 187.86 points following gains in a number of counters Pearl Properties led the top risers industrials gaining 13.46 percent to close at 2.95

cents, while ZPI was up 6.74 percent to close at 0.95c. Clothing retailer Tru-worths gained 3.45 percent to close at 3c and Econet traded at 72 cents after going up 2.86 percent.

Bankers Barclays went up 2.56 percent to trade at 4 cents. Seedco and Old Mutual gained 1.43 percent and 0.12 percent to trade at 71 cents and 255

cents, respectively. On the downside, Star Africa traded 37.5 percent lower to close at 0.5c, while Cafca declined 20 percent at 24c.

Mash lost 3.85 percent to close at 2.5c as OK dropped 2.86 percent to close at 17c and ZHL went down 11.11 percent to close at 0.8c. Turnover after today's trades stood at $2,2 million as there was a special bargain OK for 7.5 million shares at 18c which boosted the value of trades.

The mining index was also up 0.77 points (or 1.41 percent) after Hwange was 0.7 cents higher at 5.5 cents and Falgold also added 0.2 cents to trade at 2.2 cents. Bindura and Riozim main-tained previous trading days’ levels. — BH24 Reporter •

9 ZSE REVIEW

Equities turn positive on increased volumes

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BH24

Government through the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation con-trols three of the country’s abounding gold mines.

However, the fact that these mines are not bringing in any significant revenues to the company or the fiscus remains a big worry.

ZMDC runs Jena Mines in Silobela, Elv-ington Gold Mine in Chegutu and Sabi Gold Mine in Zvishavane. Yesterday, a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy heard that none of these mines have been operating prof-itably since dollarisation in 2009.

Jena Mine is the biggest gold mine in the Midlands area and at its peak it was producing 60 kilogrammes of gold per month. But the mine is now producing only 25kgs every month. The mine has $16 million worth of liabilities, mainly made up of debt, which have been accruing since 2009. To make it worse, the mine is operating a multi shaft sys-tem which means ore is being mined from four shafts which are not linked and then transported to the plant which is at least 3 km from the mines.

Talk about inefficiencies! Sabi Mine also produces 10kgs per months from an installed capacity of 45kg and bringing in loses. The mine owes Zesa more than $1 million and electricity was cut off resulting in flooding of the mine.

And the saddest case is Elvington Mine, which was the largest mine in the ZMDC group and has been mothballed since a shaft collapsed and under-ground operations ceased in 2003.

No mining is being done currently, only dump retreatment which is bringing in 10kgs per year from a peak of 45 kgs per month that came from mining operations. What is troubling is that the mine has not had any funding to resus-citate operations after the collapse and even the dump retreatment hasn’t received any funding.

This is the gloomy picture painted by ZMDC general manager Wilson Chin-zou: “Exploration has been neglected due to undercapitalisation and this has led to low confidence in the resource we have. Most money is going to liti-gation… we have been receiving sum-mons from creditors and some have

managed to get writs of execution to attach property.” What this shows us is that these mines have been grossly mismanaged and neglected from the word go. Why should a mine as big as Elvington remain dormant for more than 10 years? Or Zesa bills for a mine that is operating at less that 30 percent run up to $1 million?

And why are they paying six or more geologists at these gold mines if they are not doing their jobs? ZMDC has made so many mistakes since taking over the mines and most of these are coming back to haunt them.

First, if the mines have capacities to produce 45kgs and 60 kgs of gold, then why are they still using methods that make it more expensive for them to operate? The mines’ machinery has not been upgraded since they started operating and this means that it was only a matter of time before Elvington collapsed, or Sabi and Jena follow suit.

Second, the mines are operating on fixed costs. This means the cost of production will not change despite the amount of gold produced. And since

dollarization, the mines have been pro-ducing less and less. So why has the costs not been altered or aligned to suit production by now?

Third, Government has been putting special emphasis on the gold sector and so many reforms have been made to make sure the country’s gold pro-duction increases.

But Government is yet to make sure its own mining arm contributes mean-ingfully to the fiscus. Gold plays a sig-nificant role in the economy and we believe it should be given its place and gold mines given the necessary atten-tion.

Government should not wait for the collapse of the mines to do something. That is how ZMDC finds itself in this predicament. They became compla-cent when the mines were producing at full production, and finally woke up when it was falling to pieces. No money had been put aside for explora-tion let alone retooling. This should be a wakeup call for ZMDC to start pay-ing attention to all its mining divisions before they become futile. •

11 BH24 COMMENT

ZMDC should wake up and smell the coffee!

BH24

The South African union leading a walkout by 220,000 metalworkers is close to an agreement with employ-ers on wage increases and will resume talks to end a weeklong strike, the Labor Ministry said.

Goverment officials met separately with the National Union of Metalwork-ers of South Africa and employers yes-terday, Mokgadi Pela, a spokesman for the labor department, said by phone.

The department will continue talks with Numsa today on unresolved issues, including the union’s demand to ban companies that provide temporary workers, known as labor brokers.

“Talks are at a very advanced and sen-sitive stage,” Pela said. “We are close to an agreement when it comes to wage percentages but the reason we are saying talks are at a sensitive stage is we are trying to address sticky issues,” including labor brokers, youth wage

subsidies and housing allowances, he said. Numsa last week rejected an improved offer from the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa, the main employers’ group, to increase the salaries of low-est-paid workers by 10 percent this year. Numsa is demanding a 12 per-cent raise and a ban on labor brokers.

The strike that began on July 1 has been marred by violence, caused Gen-eral Motors Co. (GM) to halt production

because of a disruption of auto-com-ponent supplies, and threatens about a third of South African manufacturing output.

Moody’s Investors Service said last week the nation’s credit rating may be at risk because of the walkout, which follows a five-month platinum mining strike that caused the economy to con-tract in the first quarter. ― Bloomberg •

13 REGIONAL NEWS

South Africa metals union close to agreement to end strike

BH24

15 DIARY OF EVENTS

The black arrow indicate level of load shedding across the country.

POWER GENERATION STATSGen Station

7 July 2014

Energy

(Megawatts)

Hwange 352 MW

Kariba 750 MW

Harare 40 MW

Munyati 28 MW

Bulawayo 20 MW

Imports 0 MW

Total 1162 MW

16 July - Mobile Markets & Telecoms Forum Conference & Exhibition, Place: Holiday Inn (Harare), Time: 8:00am

23 -25 July - Mine Entra, Place: Zimbabwe International Exhibition Centre, Bulawayo

24 July - OK Zimbabwe Thirteenth Annual General Meeting Place: OKMart Functions Room, First Floor, OKMart, 30 Chiremba Road, Hillside, Time: 15:00 hours.

THE BH24 DIARY

BH24

17 ZSE

ZSEMOvERS CHANGE TODAY PRICE USC SHAKERS CHANGE TODAY PRICE USC

HWANGE 14.58% 5.50 STARAFRICA -37.50% 0.50

PEARL 13.46% 2.95 CAFCA -20.00% 24.00

FALGOLD 10.00% 2.20 ZIMRE -11.11% 0.80

ZPI 6.74% 0.95 MASH -3.85% 2.50

TRUWORTHS 3.45% 3.00 PADENGA -3.13% 7.75

ECONET 2.86% 72.00 OK -2.86% 17.00

BARCLAYS 2.56% 4.00 FIDELITY LIFE -2.17% 9.00

SEEDCO 1.43% 71.00

OLD MUTUAL 0.12% 255.30

IndicesINDEX PREvIOUS TODAY MOvE CHANGE

INDUSTRIAL 187.09 187.86 +0.77 POINTS +0.41%

MINING 54.56 55.33 +0.77 POINTS +1.41%

Stocks Exchange

BH24

19 AFRICA STOCkS

Botswana 8,664.65 -11.96 -0.14% 12July

Cote dIvoire 246.37 +2.18 +0.89% 07Mar

Egypt 7,949.60 -75.68 -0.94% 06Mar

Ghana 2,352.45 +6.43 +0.27% 27June

Kenya 4,885.09 +51.07 +1.06% 30June

Malawi 12,662.47 +0.00 +0.00% 07Mar

Mauritius 2,074.51 -3.51 -0.17% 07Mar

Morocco 9,544.10 +21.01 +0.22% 07Mar

Nigeria 42,482.49 +714.93 +1.71% 30June

Rwanda 131.27 +0.00 +0.00% 24Oct

Tanzania 2,018.97 +25.40 +1.27% 07Mar

Tunisia 4,624.39 -39.32 -0.84% 07Mar

Uganda 1,503.90 +0.81 +0.05% 10Sep

Zambia 4,242.74 +14.95 +0.35% 10April

Zimbabwe 186.56 -0.52 -0.28% 30June

African stock round up Commodity Prices

Name Price

Crude Oil 1,300.91 -0.21%

Spot Gold USD/oz 1,292.63 -0.26%

Spot Silver USD/oz 19.38 -0.46%

Spot Platinum USD/oz 1,421.25 -0.33%

Spot Palladium USD/oz 798.50 -0.64%

LME Copper USD/t 6,770 -0.18%

LME Aluminium USD/t 1,780 -1.17%

LME Nickel USD/t 18,230 -1.73%

LME Lead USD/t 2,095 -1.41%

Quote of the day — ""No maN is ever whipped uNtil he quits - iN his owN miNd." - NapoleoN hill Globalshareholder.com

Banking stocks dampened a tentative rebound in European shares on Tues-day as Germany's Commerzbank was said to have become the latest lender to be negotiating a costly legal settlement with U.S. authorities.

Shares in the German lender fell 3 per-cent as sources told Reuters that U.S. authorities had begun settlement talks with the bank and larger competitor Deutsche Bank, down 0.9 percent, over their dealings with countries blacklisted by the United States.

The New York Times reported that Com-merzbank's settlement was expected to include at least $500 million in penalties. This compares to a nearly $9 billion set-tlement struck by France's BNP Paribas in a similar case earlier this year.

"I think Commerzbank's stock will suffer a bit but unless they get a very big fine like BNP, I don't think it will suffer like the other banks (hit by U.S. investigations)," Mike Reuter, a broker at Tradition, said. "If we see something below a billion (dollars) I think the market will accept that." At 0743 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was down 0.1

percent at 1,380.32 points after trading slightly higher in early deals.

Italy's biggest insurer Generali was another top faller, dropping 2 percent, as Italian state-lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) said on Tuesday it had completed the placement of a 1.9 per-cent stake in the insurer at a discount to Monday's closing price. It weighed on the Euro STOXX 50 index, which

was also down 0.1 percent, at 3,227.21 points, taking its fall over the last three days to 1.8 percent.

The index has been making higher lows since December but on Monday it broke below its 50-day moving average, in what is often considered a bearish technical signal. "Our view on the Euro STOXX 50 is still bullish as prices remain above a strong ascending trend line

drawn from December 2013 (currently at 3,080 points)," Philippe Delabarre, an analyst at Trading Central, said.

"Nevertheless, yesterday, the break below the 50-day simple moving aver-age was the first weakness signal. Our targets remain 3,330 and 3,440 points as long as 3,080 is a support threshold." ― Reuters •

20 INTERNATIONAL NEWS

European shares fall for 3rd day; Commerzbank hit by potential U.S. fine

An opportunity has arisen to enable HelpAge Zimbabwe to facilitate the implementation of the Rural WASH project, to improve water, sanitation and hygiene in Bubi District

1. Carry out an assessment of the WASH related health risks and needs within - General Bookkeeping- Cash book and petty cash management the targeted population and make recommendations for actions which are - Order and control office stationery consistent with agreed guidelines and protocols. - Liaise with project staff in procurement and maintenance of project stocks

2. In conjunction with the local authority and relevant government departments records make recommendations regarding HelpAge Zimbabwe response to unmet - Preparation of Donor Financial reports needs. - Bank reconciliations

3. Facilitate the implementation of SafPHHE in conjunction with the WASH - Filing all office documentsofficer and/or other stakeholders. - Financial and programmes reports, vouchers, program and office meetings

4. Involve affected populations in assessment of the situation and in planning minutes activities and the design of water and sanitation facilities. - Monitoring and securing adherence to organization and donor administrative

5. Identification and training of ward based SafPHHE facilitators and health club processes facilitators. - General Office Administration

6. Write regular reports adhering to HelpAge Zimbabwe and donor reporting

formats as required.

- Degree in Accounting or equivalency and/or accounting

- Computer knowledge 1. Degree in Environmental Science or other relevant qualification

- Knowledge in Pastel/accounting package 2. Knowledge of public health and one or more other relevant areas (e.g. health

- Skills to manage own work and meet deadlines promotion, community development, education, community water supply).

- Clean Class 4 driver's licence 3. The post holder should have at least two years` practical experience in

appropriate community health programmes. 4. Experience and understanding of community mobilisation in relation to water

Send CV and an application letter to [email protected] sanitation activities. Deadline for application 30th June, 2014.5. Sensitivity to the needs and priorities of disadvantaged populations.

6. Demonstrated experience of integrating gender and diversity issues into public health promotion.

7. Good oral and written reporting skills. 8. Good communication skills and ability to work well in a team. 9. Ability to work well under pressure and in response to changing needs. 10. Ability to travel at short notice and to work under difficult circumstances 11. Good written and spoken English and Ndebele are essential.

2. Vacancy: Administration Assistant

Station: Bubi District

Key Result Areas Job Description

Qualifications and Person Specification

SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES

To Apply

- 2 years` experience in office administration

1. Vacancy: Participatory Health and Hygiene Education Officer

TLM-DI

159207

-T26

Two vacancies have arisen in HelpAge Zimbabwe.

BH24

By Kizito Sikuka

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has urged stake-holders to redouble their efforts in sup-porting farmers to boost production.

Farmers are at the centre of Africa’s agricultural transformation agenda. Therefore, clear agricultural policies such as access to inputs including seeds and fertilizer, as well as credit facilities and extension services are needed to improve yields.

With the momentum now building towards the 34th SADC Summit to be held in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe in August, regional leaders are expected to review the general agricultural sit-uation in the region to ensure that challenges hindering the sector are addressed.

The 34th SADC Summit is being held in the year declared by the African Union as the “Year of Agriculture and Food Security,” and will see Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe assume the SADC chair from his Malawian counter-

part, and lead the region for the com-ing year. The SADC region has adopted a raft of measures to revolutionize the agricultural sector, which contributes between four percent and 27 percent of the regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and about 13 percent of the total export earnings.

The measures, which include investing more in research, improving access to financial resources for smallholder farmers, and increasing budget alloca-tions to agriculture has seen the region record some impressive advances in food production. For example, in the past decade, the agricultural growth

rate in the region has averaged about 2.6 percent, according to the SADC Secretariat. The general food security situation has remained relatively stable with most Member States recording good harvests every year.

A recent food security assessment for the 2013/14 agricultural marketing year reveals that there was an increase in the production of maize – the sta-ple food of most countries in the SADC region.

Cassava production, another staple food in parts of Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozam-bique, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia, was also above the esti-mated requirements. In addition, the regional production of livestock prod-ucts is increasing, albeit at a slower pace.

But, what specific interventions has SADC implemented to achieve such steady progress towards regional food security? One major strategy includes enhancing the capacity for the dis-semination of research technologies

to farmers, particularly smallholder farmers, who make up the majority of farmers in the region. Access to such information is critical for planning pur-poses, especially when farmers want to diversify into new crops or livestock.

In this regard, SADC has invested in regional organizations such as the Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for South-ern Africa (CCARDESA) to ensure the provision of adequate and relevant ser-vices to regional farmers.

Speaking at the 1st General Assembly of CCARDESA, the SADC Executive Secretary, Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax from Tanzania, said the region should support its farmers as most continue to experience challenges in their daily work. “One of the major weak points in the stimulation of agri-cultural led growth in SADC has been the lack of a strong base for technology generation and public-private partner-ship models for commercialisation of technologies,” she said.

Dr Tax said climate change had also

22 ANALYSIS

Agriculture development a priority for SADC: “Let us support our farmers”

become a main challenge threatening food security in the region, hence the need to develop appropriate technolo-gies for adaptation and resilience.

“This calls for careful consideration of resource allocation and applied research which can give results of immediate use to farmers in improv-ing the resilience of their production technologies and farming systems to climate change,” she said.

“In this regard, I wish call upon CCARDESA and its stakeholders to place considerable attention on the needs of farmers in the development of programmes.” These programmes include improving the transport net-work and storage facilities so that agri-cultural produce can move smoothly from one place to another.

Storage facilities allow farmers to store their harvest for use in poor seasons, but post-harvest crop losses are esti-mated to be as high as 40 percent in the region, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Regional water infrastructure development such as irrigation will allow the region to farm all year around and not only depend on climatic conditions. The potential for

irrigating land in the SADC region is large as the region is hugely endowed with watercourses such as the Congo, Limpopo, and Zambezi rivers.

Agriculture is the backbone of most economies in southern Africa hence the sector should be identified as a pri-ority area of development. For exam-ple, more than 62 percent of the SADC region’s 277 million people are depend-ent on agriculture for their livelihoods, according to the SADC Secretariat. Dr Tax also urged the region to increase food production to keep pace with growing population.

She said while food production can be increased by increasing the area of land to be used for agriculture, “this is not a viable option in the SADC region, the most desirable and sustainable option before us is to increase productivity so that more food can be produced per unit area of land.”

She said there is need for the region to engage and co-opt the youths into agricultural development.

“As we celebrate the African Union year of Agriculture and Food Security, we need to launch a SADC-wide youth programme to create opportunities in

agricultural value chains and building agricultural entrepreneur.”

The 1st CCARDESA General Assembly was held in May in Gaborone, Bot-swana. CCARDESA is a sub-regional organisation established in July 2011 to coordinate the implementation of agricultural research and development in the SADC region.

Located in Botswana, the CCARDESA aims to coordinate and stimulate agri-cultural growth through research, tech-nology development and dissemination of research information to farmers.

Another key approach by SADC to boost production has centred on increasing budget allocations to agri-culture as well as targeted subsidy programmes that result in farmers accessing agricultural inputs and farm implements at cheaper rates.

This is in line with the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Pro-gramme (CAADP) which was formu-lated in 2003 by the African Union to encourage countries to reach a higher path of economic growth through agri-culture-led development. Under this continent-wide programme, African governments made a commitment

to allocate at least 10 percent of their national budgets to the agricultural sector each year. Ultimately, this ambi-tious and broad vision for agricultural reform in Africa aspires for an average annual growth rate of six percent in agriculture.

Most countries in SADC including Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe have already signed the CAADP agree-ment and are making vigorous efforts to meet the targets. Zimbabwe has crafted a national agricultural and food security investment plan to attract key investment in the sector.

In addition, the country has adopted a blueprint called the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Trans-formation (ZimAsset) to help shape economic transformation and develop-ment for the next five years, spanning October 2013 to December 2018.

Food Security and Nutrition is one of the four main clusters identified in ZimAsset to lead this economic trans-formation and development. The other three focus areas are on Social Services and Poverty Eradication, Infrastructure and Utilities, and Value Addition and Beneficiation. ― sardc.net •

23 ANALYSIS