Database on Most Strategic Food Commodities for the EAC Region

At their 9th Extraordinary Summit held in Dar es Salaam on 19th April 2011, the Heads of State of the EAC Partner States, APPROVED the EAC Food Security Action Plan (2011-2015) for implementation. The Action Plan has been developed to address food insecurity in the region. It forms the initial step of implementing the provisions of the EAC Treaty as set out in Chapter 18 Articles 105 -110. One of the main objectives of the EAC as set out in the Treaty is the achievement of food security across the region. The EAC- Food Security Action Plan will guide coordination and implementation of joint programmes and projects by the Partner States.

The Context Section of the Action Plan, states the following: "The realization of a regional economic bloc encompassing five countries leading to a combined population of over 120 million, land area of 1.85 million km2 and a combined GDP of US$ 73 billion, is an opportunity for enhancing food security that should be used with all the priority it deserves. Therefore, the East African Common Market (EACM) provides the best opportunity for building such value chains, because it provides a framework for exploiting economies of scale in the production and supply of food".

The Action Plan is designed to focus on the following elements, among others:

• - Increase agricultural (crops, Livestock and Fisheries) productivity and make East Africa Region a net exporter of food;
• - Ensure that food is effectively moved from areas of surplus to areas of deficit within the East Africa region;
• - Deliberately improve exploitation of alternative sources of food supply from crop, livestock, marine and fisheries, and forestry systems;
• - Improve Physical Access to Food;
• - Put in place structured trading system for food commodities and products;
• - Improve food purchasing power of Individuals, households and communities;
• - Improve Stability of food supply and access in the EAC Region; and
• - Enhance the efficiency of food utilization, nutrition, and food safety

Kilimo Trust has initiated a process of scoping and analysis of food commodities, as part of its contribution to the implementation of the Food Security Action Plan. This involved as an initial and rapid raking of 39 major food commodities, in the EAC Region. The ranking done using a set of using five criteria, was as follows: 

Then a more detailed scoping and analysis on nine commodities: Bananas; Beans; Beef Cattle; Cassava; Dairy Cattle; Irish potatoes; Maize; Rice; and Sweet Potatoes, was implemented sing the following criteria:

• - Criterion 1 - Importance of the Commodity with respect to MDG 1 (reduction of hunger and poverty);
• - Criterion 2 - Importance of the Commodity with respect to MDG 7 (ensure environmental sustainability);
• - Criterion 3 - Likelihood of Attracting a Critical Mass of Actors in Value Chain(s) of the Commodity;
• - Criterion 4 - Key Constraints Facing the Value Chain(s) in the Commodity Sub-sector; and
• - Criterion 5 - Policy and Strategic Priorities of Public and Private Sectors

The findings have been organized into a Database in Excel supported by a Summary in the form of a Deck of Slides. Both are now available to stakeholders.

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