The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has a large livestock population, comprising 72 million cattle. Although beef production has not performed as well especially among smallholder farmers. Over 60 % of the beef produced in the region is kept under communal or smallholder conditions. However, even with this resource, the region continues to be a net importer of animal sourced products. This is a consequent of the poor productivity of the beef (for example conception rates below 50 %, mortalities above 5 % and offtake rates of about 5 % for cattle in most of the countries). Lastly, it has become impossible to ignore the effects of global on the agriculture sector as a whole, the recurring droughts with detrimental effect on beef populations and productivity, registering mortalities rates as high as 20%. The Southern Africa Regional Roundtable for Sustainable Beef therefore, exists to promote an ecosystem that advances sustainable beef production within the region