Lloyd Gumbo in VICTORIA FALLS
Sadc has said a land reform exercise like the one implemented in Zimbabwe is crucial as it seeks to do away with economic imbalances and called for support for all countries that embark on such a programme.
Sadc Director for Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Ms Margaret Nyirenda said this during a media briefing here yesterday where she also revealed that Zimbabwe was one of the five countries in the region that had a surplus in cereal yields this year.

The other countries are South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania and Malawi, with the five said to have a collective surplus of more than 600 000 metric tonnes of cereal produce from the last farming season.

Ms Nyirenda said Sadc must support all the countries that embarked on land reforms as they seek to address skewed ownership of the means of production.
She was fielding questions from journalists on whether Zimbabwe’s land reform programme had negatively impacted on the region’s agricultural activities.
“Land is one of the factors of production for agriculture, so it’s crucial to have access to land,” Ms Nyirenda said.

“As you are aware, there may be people who are marginalised groups like women, so those policies are important to align that. We are in the process of setting up a regional land reform facility to share best practices.

“We are aware countries are implementing their land reform policies. As a region we have to support and facilitate what the member states are doing. Without land it affects production.”

Ms Nyirenda said focus must now be put on maximum utilisation of the land with necessary support to smallholder farmers who have over the years produced food for several countries.

She said the five countries with surplus in cereal yields stood to benefit and improve their economies if they sold the surplus to countries in the region that did not harvest much.

Ms Nyirenda said livestock production increased by 4 percent in the last four years, adding that the region was one of the highest importers of livestock and livestock products.

Heads of State and Government, she said, would come up with a way forward on genetically modified organisms.
Sadc Director of Trade, Finance, Industry and Investment Ms Boitumelo Gofhamodimo said the region prioritised the elimination of anything that scuttled investment and trade.

She said there has been steady growth in trade among countries within the Free Trade Area Agreement between the year 2000 and 2012.
In 2000, the 12 countries in Sadc who were part to the FTA had traded US$13,5 billion among themselves, but the figure had risen to US$58 billion in 2012.
The three countries that are not in the FTA are the DRC, Angola and Seychelles.

In an update on progress to the Heads of State and Government Summit, Sadc said in a statement that the summit was being preceded by preparatory technical meetings that were underway since August 8 in Victoria Falls.

The meetings included the Finance Sub-Committee, the Finance Committee and the Standing Committee of Officials.
On August 10, outgoing chairperson of the Standing Committee of Officials Mr George Mkondiwa handed over the chairpersonship of the Committee to Foreign Affairs Secretary Ambassador Joey Bimha.