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SM: Can you outline what your project entails?

EZ: FAO, through its strong, collaborative working relations with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) secretariat and other important strategic partners, is implementing STOSAR with funding from the European Union (EU).

This project is part of the 11th Economic Development Fund Programme Regional Indicative Programme to support the operationalisation of the SADC Regional Agricultural Policy (RAP).

The objectives of the project are to enhance timely access to quality agricultural information for evidence-based decision-making and to improve access to markets through the sustainable management of transboundary plant pests and animal diseases that have the potential to impact food and nutrition security in southern Africa.

The main beneficiaries of this project are the 16 SADC member States including Zimbabwe.

The STOSAR project has three main components through which FAO is developing the long-term capacity of SADC member States through several ways. Firstly, there is the establishment of a SADC Agricultural Information Management System (AIMS) that will see the standardisation and harmonisation of agricultural data to ensure policymakers and agricultural value-chain actors have ready access to reliable information.

It is hoped the platform will stimulate agricultural intensification, improve food and nutrition security, and promote regional integration, trade liberalisation, and equitable economic growth.

The other components involve strengthening the management of transboundary pests and diseases to facilitate access to markets and the creation of trade opportunities for plant and animal commodities and products. This requires effective management of sanitary risks, accompanied by credible inspection and certification processes compliant with international standards, as well as competitiveness in quality, price, and regularity of supply.

The plant health component of the project is focusing on three insect plant pests (Fall armyworm, Oriental fruit flies, and Tomato leafminer), and two plant diseases (Maize lethal necrosis disease and Banana fusarium wilt TR4).

The animal health component focuses on three high-impact transboundary animal diseases (Foot and Mouth disease, Peste des Petits Ruminants, and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).

While these priority pests and diseases remain important, the incursion of new threats such as outbreaks of African swine fever and the African migratory and red locusts have seen the priorities of some member states change with time.

SM: How did the project come about?

EZ: This can be attributed to a convergence of factors. First and foremost, the SADC aligns its agricultural development agenda to that of the region’s priorities. This is supported and realised through several policy initiatives, strategies, and plans, such as the SADC Vision 2050, and the revised Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2020-2030, which recognises agricultural development as one of the key pre-requisites for reducing poverty and enhancing industrialisation of the region.

The Regional Agricultural Policy (RAP), approved by the SADC Council in 2014, forms the overarching framework for the region’s agriculture sector.  Continentally, the region’s commitments are aligned to the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP), the Malabo Declaration, and the Agenda 2063 of the African Union (AU); and globally, to the United Nation’s Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement which came into effect in January 2021, presents another opportunity for the SADC Member States to expand their geographic marketing footprint.

It is worth highlighting that although the SADC member States have the potential to be food secure, the agriculture sector itself faces many challenges ranging from, inefficient production, productivity, and competitiveness of agricultural products, limited access to reliable agricultural data, lack of appropriate policy and regulatory frameworks some of which undermine compliance with sanitary requirements, underdeveloped livestock value chains, and related infrastructure, and changing agro-ecological conditions resulting in the emergence, spread and endemic presence of trade-sensitive pests and diseases.

Managing high-impact transboundary plant pests and animal diseases is complex and can rapidly exhaust the capacities of individual member States for containment and eradication. Joint efforts by neighbouring member states are therefore necessary to effectively control the spread of pests and diseases along common borders and ports of entry.

It is because of these challenges and opportunities that the FAO, the SADC secretariat, and other development partners are committed to strengthening collaboration and the overall performance of the region’s agricultural sector.

SM: How does this project align with FAO’s Strategic Framework of the Four Betters?

EZ: The project aligns very well with FAO’s mandate which is to eradicate hunger, eliminate poverty and promote environmentally sustainable food and agriculture systems through technical cooperation and assistance.

This includes boosting agricultural production, fighting plant pests and animal diseases, diversifying and intensifying food production, while reducing the use of chemical inputs, antimicrobials, and adopting climate-smart agricultural practices.

The organisation recently developed a new strategic framework that will help FAO support the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and three Global Goals of its members by, leaving no one behind through sustainable, inclusive, and resilient food systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life.

These Four Betters are FAO’s aspirations in the new strategic framework and align very well with the SADC’s development agenda for the agriculture sector, which I mentioned earlier.

It is quite evident that the project demonstrates its relevance from a design and implementation perspective, and fully responds to the needs of the region’s agricultural sector.

The strategic framework also highlights the importance of a shift in FAO’s working paradigm.

FAO’s reinvigorated, fit-for-purpose business model aims to ensure a more robust, inclusive, and agile organisation that is transparent, innovative, effective, and impactful to ensure the transformational change that is called for.

This translates to better investment performance and benefits realisation.

SM: What notable achievements have you attained since the commencement of implementation?

EZ: As you can imagine, project performance has largely been affected by the measures instituted by SADC member States in response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, which has brought with it both uncertainty and opportunities.

But despite the shifting landscape, there has been a tangible achievement of project results.

Working through six selected regional centres of excellence, we made good progress in achieving major milestones.

A few examples being, the setting up of a regional agricultural information management system comprised of 12 interdisciplinary modules and providing stakeholders access to timely and reliable agricultural data; development of regional and national management strategies/action plans for identified priority pests and diseases; procurement of equipment and reagents to support surveillance and laboratory diagnosis of transboundary pests and diseases; and increased capacities of member states to access markets for their agricultural commodities and products.

The Republic of Tanzania secured access to the Indian and South African export market for avocados through the support of the project which facilitated surveillance, pest risk analysis, and development of a pest list for the commodity.

Multiple capacity-building workshops, online courses, and a series of webinars were held on topical areas such as strategy development, sanitary and phytosanitary issues, pest risk analysis, disease risk analysis, and mapping, laboratory quality management systems.

Monitoring the performance of the agriculture sector relies on having a consistent and reliable data reporting mechanism easily accessible to stakeholders and these activities aimed to strengthen regional coordination and collaboration in the prevention and management of transboundary pests and diseases for enhanced food security and trade.

SM: When will the project end and how will the gains of this project be sustained?

EZ: The project is now in its fourth year of implementation and will be ending in August 2022.

As regards sustainability, the commitment and allocation of national resources by SADC member states governments are crucial if the many accrued benefits are to continue being realised after the project ends.

Fortunately, the project itself has to some extent leveraged the strong elements of sustainability already built into its design.

This has been achieved through: the commitment, contribution, and participation of member states governments in capacity building activities, and the setting up of working groups and networks, the creation of synergies with existing national projects, and awareness, and advocacy of results at senior and ministerial levels.

SADC member states have also been encouraged to work closely with the private sector to ensure the long-term sustainability of strategic partnerships.

An exit strategy to safeguard the benefits accrued by the project will be developed.

This should enable a smooth transition and institutionalisation of the project’s best practices and encourage member states to continue pursuing the regional integration agenda after the life of the project.