The African Union-Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) is implementing a 5-year project on “Sustainable Development of Livestock for Livelihoods in Africa - Live2Africa”, The project pioneers a coherent continental programme approach to build systemic capacity in seven livestock components, that include: Investment in Value Chains, Animal Health; Animal Production, Productivity and Ecosystem Management; Resilience Building; Technology adoption in the Value Chains to inputs, services and markets; and strengthening institutional capacities.
AU-IBAR in collaboration with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) conducted a consultative stakeholder meeting at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Resort in Victoria, Seychelles from 9th to 11th of March 2020 to refine the implementation modalities of catalytic actions for the prioritised Red meat and live animals Regional Livestock Value Chain (RLVC).
The meeting was attended by 31 participants from 14 SADC Member States- Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe; tertiary institutions (Stellenbosch University, University of Zambia, University of Zimbabwe); the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), representatives of the red meat and live animals industry – the Lesotho Abattoir and the National Emergent Red Meat Producers' Organisation (NERPO) and staff from AU-IBAR.
The overall objective of the workshop was to build consensus on modalities including, prioritised intervention and action areas, develop work plans and time-frames, budget and targets for implementation of defined catalytic actions under the SADC Priority Regional Livestock Value Chain of the red meat and live animals.
As per SADC protocols, the meeting was chaired by Botswana. The representative of the Government of Seychelles, Ms Alejandra Cubillos noted that Seychelles was developing its Livestock Strategy and enhancing some of its livestock value chains and would therefore benefit from the meeting. Dr Edward Nengomasha representing the Director of AU-IBAR, noted that it was agreed each African Regional Economic Community (REC) would develop a detailed Concept Note with priority activities, clear expected outputs and impacts, budgets, timelines, as well as responsible institutions based on agreed priorities for each RLVC in order to operationalize support from the Live2Africa project. This would contribute to the improvement of the livelihoods of SADC livestock keepers and contribute to food and nutrition security as well as economic growth.
The meeting deliberated and generated the following priority intervention areas for the SADC region:
- Develop approaches for conservation and utilization of natural resources and the environment.
- Develop mechanisms to enhance market access at local, regional and international level.
- Develop/ Promote platforms/ hubs for knowledge, communication and information sharing at local, national and regional levels including the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs).
The participants developed a draft Concept Note (CN) for the SADC region using the identified priority areas of interventions for the Red meat and live animals value chains. The Concept Note will be finalized by the SADC region and submitted to AU-IBAR for funding under the Live2Africa project.
