These current conditions follow a 2014-2015 agricultural season that was similarly characterized by hot, dry conditions and a 23 per cent drop in regional cereal production. This has increased the region’s vulnerability due to the depletion of regional cereal stocks and higher-than-average food prices, and has substantially increased food insecurity. During the previous marketing year (2015-2016), the number of food insecure people in the region stood at more than 28 million, including 2.8 million people in Malawi, 1.5 million people in Zimbabwe and 1.8 million people in Madagascar. SADC Overall Cereal Deficit by Crop, 2016/2017 (000 Tonnes) Source: SADC Maize required for 23M People in emergency conditions (MT) 324k 356k 199k 1k Botswana 27k 28k 31k Swaziland Tanzania Lesotho 53k Madagascar 77k Zambia 99k 102k Angola Namibia 140k Mozambique 151k Zimbabwe South Africa* Malawi (f) DRC (e) Source: SADC Member States RECOMMENDATIONS • It is recommended that food and cash interventions are urgently scaled up to assist the most vulnerable, while continuously monitoring the situation by means of rapid multi-sectoral and market assessments. • To safeguard development gains and adapt to ever increasing climatic shocks, there is need to intensify work on climate change adaptation and integrated risk management linked to longterm resilience building such as productive asset creation and supporting national social protection programmes; • Strengthening food and nutrition security surveillance, developing national data analysis capacity and. This will require increased 13