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THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY TODAY SADC Today, Vol.8 No.5 December 2005 INSIDE POLICY 3 REVIEW 2005 4 COOPERATION 5 TRANSITIONS 6 PROFILE 7 ELECTIONS 8,9 INNOVATIONS 10 BUSINESS 11 COMMUINTY 12 PERSPECTIVE 13 BOOKS 14 EVENTS 15 HISTORY TODAY 16 2 Food security strengthened by cross-border cooperation by Clever Mafuta Food security is one of the region’s most pressing challenges and active regional collaboration is offering a key solution. Intra-regional trade, forward planning, innovative farming methods, food aid and a shift away from the traditional but drought-vulnerable staple maize, have helped southern Africa to avert starvation in the face of persistent droughts. The four rainfall seasons since 2001 have all but one been drought years. Only the 2003/04 season had sufficient and well-distributed rains to ensure a good farming season in most parts of the region. According to the August Cereal Balance sheet of South Africa’s Department of Agriculture, the countrys maize export plans for the 2005/06 marketing year are estimated at 1.56 million tonnes. These exports are destined mainly for Zimbabwe and the Southern African Customs Union countries (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland). As many as 10 million people in southern Africa are food insecure and in need of food assistance until the next harvest in April 2006, after a below normal 2004/05 rainfall season. The most affected countries are Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Even Botswana, which has not been affected by food shortages in recent times, declared a state of disaster in July 2005. Although regional estimates of cereal availability in the SADC