® (c) Southern African Development Community mainstreaming of gender perspectives in the process of community and nation building; NOTING that agriculture is the backbone of the economy of the SADC region and that about 80% of the people in the region depend on agriculture for food, income and employment; CONSCIOUS that the performance of agriculture has a strong influence on food security, economic growth and stability of the SADC region; AWARE that the strengthening of peace and security is a pre-requisite to economic development, and in particular to the agricultural sector; FURTHER AWARE that in the SADC region, in the past thirteen years, food production, donor aid flows, government budgetary allocations to agriculture and rural development have declined, while food imports, food aid, and population have substantially increased; RECOGNISING that the challenges facing the SADC region regarding agriculture and food security are many and have their basis in social, economic and environmental factors; CONVINCED of the need to improve food security in the SADC region; NOTING that sustainable food security is a top priority in the SADC Agenda and features prominently in the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (AlSOP) as one of the key intervention areas; APPRECIATING that regional efforts in addressing the problem of food insecurity constitute an essential part of the continental and global response to enhancing the standard and quality of life of Our people; RECOGNIZING the commitments made by SADC Member States within the framework of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, World Food Summit Declaration of 1996 reiterated in the African Union Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security in Africa July 2003, and the Sirte Declaration on the Challenges of Implementing Integrated and Sustainable Development on Agriculture and Water in Africa, February 2004; FURTHER RECOGNISING that the major underlying reasons for the prevalence of hunger in the SADC region include inappropriate national agricultural and food policies and inadequate access by farmers to key agricultural inputs and markets; Dar-es-Salaam Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security in the SADC Region 2