Agricultural productivity is far below potential in Southern Africa and the sub-region as a whole suffers from periodic food deficits and malnutrition. Productivity, rather than production, is an important factor in food security especially in situations where the population is growing and food production has to be increased with minimal or no increase in the area of land under production. Research spurs productivity and production through the generation and release of improved technologies.
CCARDESA’s effort will be in improving the use of existing and new agricultural technologies, innovations and management practices, while generating new technologies that respond to the current and future needs of the region. Partnerships with the NARES will be strengthened to achieve maximum outputs from the joint efforts.
The proposed interventions aim at making a targeted contribution to the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan’s (RISDP) aspirations, as enunciated in the Regional Agricultural Policy, the Regional Agricultural Investment Plan (RAIP), the Food and Nutrition Security Strategy (FNSS) and the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap (SISR).
These regional policy and strategic documents are aligned to the continental frameworks, such as: CAADP’s Malabo Declaration, the African Union Agenda 2063, and the global Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 2: end poverty and end hunger, respectively.
