The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is stepping up efforts to use data-driven solutions to speed the transformation of agri-food systems.
This is intended to improve food security in a region hit hard by climate change, with floods and droughts limiting output.
The implementation of data-driven strategies is combined with the use of geospatial modeling and analytical tools, as well as partnership-building approaches, to direct investments in high-potential areas for irrigation, mechanisation, agricultural processing, and trade integration.
“These efforts aim to shift the region from a crisis response to a long-term transformation, improving yields, increasing dietary diversity and nutritional status and strengthening resilience to climate change,” Elijah Magosi, SADC executive secretary, said.
He was speaking at the bloc’s headquarters in Botswana as the organisation celebrated World Food Day.
It is commemorated yearly on October 16 to mark the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, a United Nations agency.
“The SADC Secretariat encourages member states to align national frameworks with the right to adequate food, ensuring its integration into agricultural, social protection and nutrition policies and programmes,” Magosi said.
According to the 2024 SADC Food and Nutrition Security Status Report, an estimated 67,7 million people in the 16 member states were food insecure.
Child malnutrition remains high, with an estimated 23 million children under the age of five experiencing stunting and 49 million affected by child food poverty.
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