SACAU (the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions) is a regional farmers’organization that was established in 1992. Its membership is open to national farmers’unions and regional commodity associations in Southern Africa. It is involved in agricultural development in the region by strengthening the capacities of farmers’orgnizations, by providing a collective voice for farmers on regional and international matters, and by providing agriculture related information to its members and others stakeholders.

COP 17 !... SACAU's booth in the Durban UNFCCC exhibit space is presenting the 'Agriculture In !' game. This ball game was developed in partnership with IFAD (the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development) and is designed to address the significance of agriculture and how it can contribute to food security, adaptation and mitigation. Please view the media release on the ' Agriculture In !' game. Come and visit SACAU's booth on stand 18 at the UNFCCC exhibit space and score for agriculture to be included in the climate negotiations text that will be agreed in Durban.

COP 17 !... SACAU has released its position statement on Agriculture and Climate change negotiations. It has been endorsed by 18 national farmers’organisations in Southern Africa and will form the basis of SACAU’s engagement at COP17.

Please view the position statement : simply formatted ….English, French, Portuguese; fully designed …. English, French, Portuguese.

Please also view the Press Release about the position statement.

COP 17 !... SACAU has been granted an observer status for the next session of the Conference of Parties of the UN framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC), which will be held in Durban, South Africa, from 28 November to 9 December 2011 (known as CoP17). This will allow SACAU to engage with policy makers at the highest level during the global event, bringing the key African farmers' voice to the discussions. Knowing that African agriculture stands the risk of being the hardest hit by climate change, SACAU is committed to take leadership at CoP17 in voicing out African farmers concerns about climate change and advocating for farmer focused responses in the African agricultural sector.

On 25 August 2011, 8 national cotton producer associations in southern Africa (from Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe) signed a declaration to establish a regional structure under the name of the Southern African Cotton Producers Association (SACPA). This declaration was issued at the end of a 2-day meeting held in Centurion, South Africa,under the auspices of SACAU in order to finalise the regional framework of cooperation. The meeting also agreed on the vision, mission, values and principles, and objectives of SACPA, as well as the key areas of collaboration. SACAU’s potential role in the new structure was also defined. Please view the Declaration on the establishment of SACPA.

SACAU held its 2011 Annual General Meeting on 19 May 2011 in Vereeniging, South Africa. A new board was elected, with Mr Douglas Taylor-Freeme of the Commercial Farmers’ Union of Zimbabwe being re-elected for a third term as president. Please go to the section ‘Board of Directors’ of the ‘About us’ page for the full composition of the new board. The AGM also admitted Namibia National Farmers Union (NNFU) and União Nacional de Camponeses (UNAC) of Mozambique as members of SACAU. For more details, view the Media release on the SACAU 2011 AGM … English , French

The AGM also adopted new SACAU governance instruments, including revised Articles of Association, the Code of Conduct and Ethics as well as the Good Corporate Governance Standards. For more, view Media release on SACAU’s new corporate governance framework … English , French

The SACAU 2011 Policy Conference was held on 17-18 May 2011 at the Riviera on Vaal hotel & country club in Vereeniging, South Africa, under the theme GMOs in agricultural development - Perspectives of farmers in Southern Africa’. The Conference was attended by more than 70 participants, mainly from Farmers’ Organisations in the southern African region but also from other stakeholders in the agricultural sector, including regional economic communties, research institutions, private sector, international development agencies and NGOs. Please view the Conference programme. Presentations made at the Conference can be downloaded on the ‘Events’ page, under the ‘Policy Conferences’ section.

Following the Conference, SACAU adopted a Policy Framework on GMOs during its Annual General Meeting that was held on the 19th of May. Please view the Media Release on SACAU’s GMO Policy Framework … English , French

On March 29, 2011, SACAU participated in the international gathering of farming organisations which took place in Brussels, Belgium, to highlight the need for the farmers’ voice to be heard on the world stage and to formally create the World Farmers’Organisation. Such an organisation is crucial in order to contribute to the on-going discussions concerning food security, climate change and the economic situation worldwide. The intended aim is to bring together national producer organisations and producer cooperative organisations to create policies and advocate on world farmers behalf, in order to improve the economic situation and livelihood of producers, their families and rural communities. The next steps for the World Farmers’ Organisation include an inaugural General Meeting, which will be held in South Africa in September. Please view the Declaration of the World Farmers’Organisation founding meeting …. English, French.

As the 17th edition of the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP 17) on climate change is coming to Durban , South Africa, in December 2011, SACAU will be coordinating the development and effective communication of concrete and coherent messages from farmers in southern Africa with a view to influencing the Conference deliberations. Climate change is certainly one of the greatest challenges affecting farmers now and in the future in southern Africa. It is thus important that southern African farmers issues and concerns, as well as their obligations and responsibilities towards addressing this great challenge, are made more visible and prominent in the run-up to and during the Conference process. The goal of SACAU's participation will be to ensure that African farmers' concerns are incorporated and addressed in the outcomes of the Conference. Forming broad alliances with other organisations outside the immediate farming circles will also be a key element of the strategy.

Further information and updates on this important initiative will be regularly shared on SACAU’s website.

SACAU participated in a regional symposium on Conservation Agriculture (CA) in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 8-10 February 2011. The symposium was hosted by the Conservation Agriculture Regional Working Group (CARWG), with support from FAO, FANRPAN, African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT) and the NEPAD agency. It was attended by over 130 participants from government (from 12 southern African countries and COMESA secretariat), farmers’ organisations, NGOs, research and academic organisations, and bilateral and multilateral development agencies. The symposium objectives were to i) share and document information on the social and economic impacts of CA technologies in the region; ii) to share and document experiences on CA and scale-up approaches and impacts; iii) to identify key areas for research and development and explore institutional and policy innovations for CA scale-up.

Please click here for accessing the Symposium Communique.

Abstracts of the papers presented during the Symposium can be accessed here (click on ID number).