ORGANISATIONS should identify opportunities and challenges their respective stakeholders face in order to facilitate such Public Relations’ (PR) publics to exploit such opportunities and address the existing and foreseeable challenges to the benefit of such stakeholders.
Failure to do so breeds concerns in the minds of stakeholders about why such an organisation exists if it cannot facilitate exploitation of such opportunities and or addressing challenges stakeholders experience.
And one of the critical issues each country in the Southern Africa region is facing is sustainable national food security.
Staple food in these countries is not only inadequate but is also scarce in some seasons; and therefore accessed at high prices.
Such situations threaten household and national food security. As a result, food shortages have given rise to increase in staple food prices in most such countries. And high food prices have, in some cases, sparked food riots in some countries.
Moreover, in some countries, reports of high malnutrition; especially in children under the age of five years have been common.
In Zambia, for instance, it is reported that about 42 per cent of children under the age of five years are malnourished.
Therefore, what is your organisation doing to alleviate such household and national food shortages; and in the process to reduce high malnutrition levels in children?
To trace some of the causes of household, national and regional food security, for example, in a media brief recently at Hotel Inter-Continental in Lusaka, Common Market in East and Southern Africa (COMESA) Food  Trade seed development officer, John Mukuka said COMESA region produces about 500, 000 metric tons of seed while seed consumption in the same region is about 2million metric tons.
Such development create concerns about where relevant institutions and stakeholders are to exploit such seed production, marketing and trade opportunities that would in the process address such sad developments that threaten household and national food security not only in Zambia but also in all African countries.
While each government through respective government agriculture ministry is making frantic efforts to facilitate and co-ordinate effective and efficient seed and staple food production and marketing; challenges in promoting national food security seem to be many and enormous.
In a speech read on his behalf at the same media briefing in Lusaka recently, COMESA deputy secretary General, Kipyego Chelugt said inadequate quality and improved seed significantly contribute to food insecurity and poverty in the region.
The COMESA deputy secretary general also said variations in national seed regulations for seed certification, quality control, quarantine and phyto-sanitory measures in seed imports and exports greatly hinder cross-border seed trade in the region to facilitate easy and regular flow of food among COMESA member countries.
It is from such a background that COMESA heads of state through respective agriculture ministers met in 2009; and tasked COMESA Secretariat to find lasting solutions to such staple food challenges in the region.
Dr Chelugt said such a task was necessary because agriculture in COMESA region represents more than 30per cent of the region’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), provides livelihood to about 80 per cent of the region’s labour force and accounts for 65 per cent of the foreign exchange earnings.
As a result, COMESA through its FoodTrade established a specialised regional agricultural agency, Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa(ACTESA) based in Lusaka to facilitate the national adoption of new seed trade regulation in East and Southern African. ACTESA partnered with Technoserve, an international non-governmental organisation that promotes production and marketing of soya beans.
In such an arrangement, COMESA has facilitated the marriage of ACTESA and Technoserve to facilitate high seed and soya bean high productivity, market information provision and co-ordination and address trade issues’ especially for smallholder farmers, traders and member countries in the region.
Therefore, ACTESA and Technoserve work with the private sector including seed firms, grain traders and other value chain actors to promote high quality staple food seed production and marketing; and those of soya bean production and marketing related information and services in the region.
To this effect, Dr Chelugt said COMESA is inviting all such agricultural related stakeholders to grab such an opportunity to participate in promoting high value seed production and marketing to the benefit of smallholder farmers and sustainable national food security in member countries in the region.
It is against this background that COMESA calls for stakeholders’ high involvement and co-operation in agricultural related issues to achieve regional staple food security through enhanced quality of seed, high food crop productivity and increased access to staple food markets.
And during the same media briefing, Technoserve country director, Luke Potter itemised the benefits of soya beans in crop rotation, human nutrition and in value chain such as in  animal feeds to the further benefits of smallholder farmers, livestock farmers and to the livestock industry.
Mr Potter stated that in addition to increased staple food production and marketing, farmers and related stakeholders should know that soya bean can greatly contribute to job creation, high income generation and in the process contribute to poverty reduction among many citizens in the member countries.
As a result, Mr Potter said, among others, his organisation provides production and marketing information; and builds capacities in soya bean production and marketing actors.  The Technoserve country director said currently, Technoserve is running an 18-month soya bean production and marketing pilot project in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania after operating in many other countries including in COMESA with remarkable benefits to all actors.
And COMESA FoodTrade policy expert, Daniel Njiwa said with the harmonisation of staple food seed standards, certification, grading and regulation, there will be predictable prices of staple food at a more efficient flow of such food from surplus to deficit countries in the region.  Mr Njiwa said such a development will enhance cross-border trade of staple food to the benefit of trader, respective citizens and all COMESA member countries. This will facilitate staple food availability in all member countries in all seasons.
While such a case study concerns COMESA strategies in its efforts to address regional food security related issues to the benefits of its member countries, such an approach to exploiting opportunities and addressing challenges various stakeholders face is also true to every organisation like yours.
Look at how most smallholder farmers, soya bean producers, traders and member countries will benefit from COMESA’s FoodTrade’s ACTESA and Technoserve services in each country!
Your organisation can also identify opportunities and critical issues that affect some or all your stakeholders; and facilitate exploitation of such opportunities; and addressing the challenges they might face.
Such approaches to facilitating benefits to stakeholders are critical because they justify the existence of a respective organisation to such stakeholders.
For COMESA, just imagine that all member state governments put in place all the necessary measures to ensure successful quality seed production, certification, grading and regulation; and most private sector agro-related organisations take advantage of such an opportunity; high quality seed production, marketing, household and national food security and food trade can be high to the benefits of all involved including smallholders farmers, traders and to the respective COMESA member countries.
Therefore, consider opportunities and challenges your employees, customers, investors, suppliers, distributors, etc have or experience respectively. How can you help such organisation’s stakeholders to exploit such opportunities and or address their respective challenges?
Like COMESA is doing, your organisation can also put in place respective strategic PR measures to facilitate mutual understanding and mutual benefits between your organisation and its stakeholders. Therefore, COMESA, facilitate your stakeholders to exploit their available opportunities and address their challenges to justify the importance of your organisation to such stakeholders.
The author is a PR Trainer and Consultant.  For comments and ideas, contact:  Cell: 0967/0977 450151
E-mail:sycoraxtndhlovu@yahoo.co.uk