SADC Senior Officials Meet In Victoria Falls As 58 Million Face Hunger Threat
Senior agriculture officials from across Southern Africa have met in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, warning that the region is running out of time to shield 58 million people from deepening hunger, climate shocks, and fragile global supply chains.
Gathered for the Joint Meeting of Senior Officials responsible for Agriculture, Food Security, Fisheries and Aquaculture from 27–28 May 2026, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) delegation confronted a sobering picture: nearly 15 percent of the regional population in 12 member states remains food insecure, according to estimates by the SADC Secretariat.
Hosted in the resort town of Victoria Falls, the meeting is setting the stage for recommendations to Ministers responsible for Agriculture, Food Security, Fisheries and Aquaculture, who convene on 29 May at Safari Lodge Victoria Falls to decide the region’s next steps.
Climate Shocks, Animal Diseases, And A Fragile Supply Chain
Behind the formal agenda was a convergence of pressures that is reshaping how Southern Africa grows, trades, and protects its food.
Delegates reviewed the damage from El Niño-linked rainfall deficits, which have scorched fields in several member states, alongside cyclone damage in coastal and island countries. On top of that, a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak has spread across 11 SADC member states, threatening livestock herds and export markets.
Layered over these climate and animal health shocks are global geopolitical tensions that continue to disrupt key agricultural inputs, particularly fertiliser.
Zimbabwe’s Permanent Secretary for Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development, Prof. Dr. Obert Jiri, warned that supply bottlenecks in strategic maritime routes are already hitting African farmers where it hurts most – in the soil.
“33 percent of our fertiliser in Africa passes through the Strait of Hormuz, the disruption is massive and has massive implications for Africa as a whole,” said Prof. Jiri.
FFA Explainer:
The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow shipping route between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. A large share of the world’s oil, gas, and fertiliser moves through this chokepoint. When tensions rise or shipping is delayed there, transport costs spike and deliveries to African ports can be delayed or cancelled altogether.
For smallholder farmers from Bikita to Beitbridge, that disruption translates into higher fertiliser prices, late deliveries, or empty shelves just as planting season begins. Without enough nutrients, maize yields fall, livestock feed becomes scarce, and households are forced into hard choices about which fields to prioritise.
Balancing Relief And Long-Term Resilience
Chairing the Senior Officials Committee, Mr Mooketsa Ramasodi set the tone for the meeting with a call for coordinated, disciplined action across the region.
“… our response as SADC has to be characterised by our ability to balance immediate relief with structural measures that enhance resilience,” said Ramasodi.
That balance – feeding families today while building farms that can withstand the next shock – ran through many of the technical discussions in Victoria Falls.
On the table were:
- The latest regional food and nutrition security outlook, including projections for the 2026–27 season.
- Implementation of the Kampala Declaration framework, which seeks to strengthen food and nutrition security and resilience across Africa. [SOURCE REQUIRED: specific reference to Kampala Declaration details]
- Roll-out of a Harmonised Fertiliser Regulatory Framework to make it easier and safer to move fertiliser across borders within SADC.
- New measures for transboundary animal disease management, especially foot-and-mouth disease that is undermining cattle-based livelihoods.
- Market access reforms to help farmers, particularly women and youth, tap into regional value chains.
FFA Explainer:
Transboundary animal diseases are infections that can easily cross borders through animal movement, wildlife, or trade. Foot-and-mouth disease, for instance, spreads quickly among cattle and other cloven-hoofed animals. When outbreaks occur, countries often restrict livestock movement and exports, which hits farmers’ incomes hard.
Zimbabwe’s Role And A Regional Test
For Zimbabwe, hosting the meeting in Victoria Falls was both symbolic and practical. The country knows the sting of drought and input shortages, but it has also invested in irrigation, Pfumvudza/Intwasa conservation agriculture, and local fertiliser blending as part of its own National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) to stabilise production.
In Matabeleland North, not far from the mist of the Falls, farmers’ groups have been tracking the proceedings closely. Many are already adapting to shorter, more erratic rainy seasons – planting drought-tolerant sorghum, harvesting rainwater, or working in irrigation schemes along the Zambezi.
The SADC talks in their backyard are more than protocol; they’re a test of whether regional policies can reach real fields with real solutions.
By aligning with frameworks such as AU Agenda 2063 and the UN Sustainable Development Goal 2 on Zero Hunger, officials are under pressure to translate communiqués into inputs, markets, and income, particularly for rural women and young people who shoulder much of the farm labour in Southern Africa.
Why Fertiliser Rules And Market Access Matter
The discussions on a Harmonised Fertiliser Regulatory Framework might sound technical, but they cut to the heart of smallholder productivity in the region.
If SADC countries can agree on common standards and faster approval processes, fertiliser companies can move products more freely, driving down costs and expanding access. That could help farmers from Mashonaland West to Malawi’s Lilongwe Plain get inputs on time, instead of waiting at border posts or paying a premium to middlemen.
At the same time, market access reforms could open up new buyers for surplus grain, horticulture, fish, and livestock. With better border procedures and harmonised standards, a tomato farmer in Mutoko or a fish farmer on Lake Kariba could more easily sell into neighbouring markets, earning higher prices than in local saturated markets.
FFA Explainer:
A harmonised regulatory framework means countries agree on shared rules for quality, safety, and labelling. For fertiliser, this helps prevent counterfeit or sub-standard products, speeds up product registration across borders, and gives farmers more confidence that what they buy will work in their fields.
Foot-And-Mouth Disease And Livestock Livelihoods
For livestock keepers, the spread of foot-and-mouth disease across 11 SADC states is not a distant veterinary issue – it is a direct hit on family wealth.
Cattle remain a critical store of value in many rural communities. When disease outbreaks trigger movement restrictions, farmers cannot sell at markets, feedlots stand idle, and abattoirs reduce operations. Export bans can wipe out foreign currency earnings from beef overnight.
This is why the Victoria Falls meeting focused not only on emergency vaccination and control, but also on longer-term regional coordination – from synchronised vaccinations to shared surveillance data and joint border controls.
For Zimbabwean communal farmers in districts like Gokwe and Lupane, whose cattle herds have already been squeezed by drought and shrinking grazing land, a sustained regional push on animal health could be the difference between rebuilding and sliding deeper into poverty.
Preparing For The 2026–27 El Niño Season
Perhaps the most urgent thread running through the two-day discussions was the anticipated 2026–27 El Niño season, which could again bring below-average rainfall to large parts of Southern Africa.
Officials are underlining the need for SADC member states to adopt contingency plans ahead of the next planting window. These plans are expected to include:
- Strategic grain reserves and regional food stock coordination. [SOURCE REQUIRED: specific reserve targets or mechanisms]
- Targeted support for drought-tolerant seed varieties and conservation agriculture training.
- Scaled-up irrigation investments and water harvesting, including small-scale schemes suitable for smallholders.
- Social protection measures for the most vulnerable households in rural and peri-urban areas.
For Zimbabwe, this aligns directly with NDS1 priorities on climate resilience and agriculture transformation, and offers an opportunity to position smallholder-focused irrigation, mechanisation, and extension as regional models.
From Talking Points To Farm-Level Change
The outcomes from Victoria Falls will now be shaped into formal recommendations for SADC Ministers, who meet on 29 May to consider concrete decisions and timelines.
The stakes are high. With 58 million people already food insecure, and climate and disease pressures mounting, the room for policy delay is shrinking.
Yet there is also a window for action. Coordinated fertiliser rules, smarter animal health systems, clear contingency plans for El Niño, and more open regional markets can – if implemented – help farmers across Southern Africa grow more food, earn more income, and withstand the next shock.
As the mist from Victoria Falls drifts over the town and the officials prepare their final technical reports, farmers across Zimbabwe and the wider SADC region will be judging the success of this meeting not by the length of its communiqué, but by what reaches their fields before the first rains of 2026.
For a visual look at the proceedings in Victoria Falls, SADC and Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development shared images from the meeting here and a recording of the official session on Facebook.
As one senior official put it in the corridors of the conference centre, the region’s next harvest will be the real verdict on what was agreed by the Zambezi. [Illustrative — verify or replace]
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