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New body to handle SADC land issues

    JOHANNESBURG

    Southern African Development Community (SADC) ministers had formed a new body to handle land issues in the region, news reports said on Wednesday. The announcement was made after a two-day meeting in the Namibian capital, Windhoek. Reports said the new body would be known as the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Directorate (FANR).

    The meeting recommended that a technical facility be created within the FANR directorate to mobilise funds and technical resources to support member-states’ reform programmes. The meeting was the first consultative conference of ministers from the 14-nation body on land, and followed a decision at a SADC summit in Malawi in August to address the problem collectively.

    Ministers attending the meeting, according to reports, said some key issues identified were the allocation of resources in support of white, large-scale commercial farmers. Ministers also said that an integrated approach to rural development was needed in the region.

    The meeting also recognised the need for international co-operating partners to support the implementation of natural reform programmes, including the funding of land acquisition, depending on the historical evolution of the land problem in each member state, reports said.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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