The massive food needs will only partly be met by the international community. The bulk of the shortfall has to be met by national government and the commercial sector. It is critical that all available information be openly shared so that effective contingency planning can take place. To date, the information coming from each country has been poor - published figures do little to differentiate proposed purchases, active contracts or stocks already received. No information exists about the distribution plans for the government stocks once received. In all cases, national governments have to take greater responsibility to be transparent in their ability and progress in accessing food so that, collectively, the international community can ensure the needs of the hungry are met.
Where data does exist, it is difficult to assess the reliability of the figures.
However, they do, probably represent the trends in import success. Figures presented at the September
2002 meeting in Johannesburg5 suggest for example that although Mozambique had imported 78% of its requirements, Zambia had, by that stage imported only 9%.
Footnotes:
- SADC (2002) Regional Emergency Food Security Assessment Report. SADC - FANR, 16 September 2002
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