Despite a good harvest of cereals in 2005, nearly 10 million Southern Africans could face food shortage and need humanitarian assistance in the next year, it was revealed ahead of a regional summit starting today.

Leaders of 14 member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will gather in Botswana's capital for an annual meeting to assess challenges of the region's development. Food security will be on top agenda, officials said.

The SADC region harvested around 26 million tons of cereals in 2005, which is almost identical to the 2004 harvest and 10 percent above the past five-year average, said a document circulated at the meeting.

However, distribution of the harvest remained uneven among the SADC countries. While South Africa is enjoying an overall cereal surplus, other members have deficits ranging from 100,000 tons in Zambia to 1.62 million tons in Zimbabwe, said the document.

"The region may therefore be facing serious food security needs in some of member states, such as Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe," it said.

An estimated 9.71 million people in southern Africa may need 730,000 tons of food aid in the coming year, according to the National Vulnerability Assessments conducted this year in six SADC countries.
 
The surplus of maize, the staple food for Southern African people, located only in South Africa and maize deficits ranged from 14,000 tons in Angola to 1.38 million tons in Zimbabwe mainly due to prolonged dry weather.

A late start to the rainy season in some areas and erratic and poor rainfall experienced during the second half of the season reduced cereal harvests in Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, said the document.

Late arrivals of fertilizers and seed shortage also worsened the situation, it said.

(China Daily August 17, 2005)