By Delisa Thwala
The Minister of Agriculture Mandla Tshawuka has assured farmers that E59 million has been set aside by the government to support farmers on input subsidies.
Tshawuka was speaking during the Horticulture Innovation Platform workshop hosted by NAMBoard and SWASA on July 5, 2024. This was held in Manzini TumsGeorge Hotel.
The Minister was speaking on the efforts by the government to help farmers get high-quality produce.
He said the ministry had interventions already in place on how the input subsidies program performed. He explained that the testing of this program would help the ministry ascertain the gaps that need to be addressed.
“The government has spent millions helping farmers get farming input subsidies. In recent years, we spent E152 million towards input subsidies, and this year, we will spend 59 million towards the same project,” he said.
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Agriculture is defined as the mainstay of the Eswatini economy although its contribution to GDP has declined over the years. Agriculture and forestry accounted for 8.6% of Eswatini’s GDP in 2017 (MEPD 2018).
According to the Central Bank of Eswatini Report, 2016 the agricultural sector recorded a negative growth of -11.2%. This negative growth was a result of reduced output due to severe drought where overall production output declined by 30 to 40%.
The performance of the sector is mainly influenced by the value of sugar exports which account for over 70% of the value of agricultural production.
The sector is also supporting agro-based industries and manufacturing which contributes about 27% of Eswatini’s GDP.
Export of agricultural commodities include sugar,
wood products, Citrus Fruits, canned fruits, meat and meat products, and textiles.
These sectors are the main sources of foreign earnings. However, there are future uncertainties as follows: Sugar: The liberalisation of the European Union (EU) sugar market and falling global prices.
The Minister further said the ministry was in the process of encouraging farmers to grow crops that would produce a high yield.
He revealed that they once had a program, in which farmers were supported with agricultural lime to improve the soil structure.
He, however, said the lime program did not give farmers the leeway to come to the ministry anytime they needed such assistance, but to make self-investment in what they planted.
“It is not only the government’s responsibility to develop the country but it is a joint effort. It is in that regard that the ministry will be visiting 59 constituencies to find out the challenges faced in the previous planning and how they can be addressed going forward,” he
NAMBoard Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bhekizwe Maziya said it had been noted that the country continued to face inadequate food production, leading to the continued importation of most commodities, especially maize and beans.
He said it was high time the ministry addressed the challenge to assist the country to become self-sufficient.
Maziya said every Inkhundla had untapped potential in terms of agricultural production, and their target was also on the high-potential maize production areas.
He said this was meant to increase support for maize production. The director added that they had identified high-potential areas with arable land and high rainfall-receiving areas.
Worth mentioning is that, currently, they are visiting farmers in the different Tinkhundla Centre and having an up-close engagement to ascertain the challenges they face.
The Minister stated that this engagement involved all the departments under the ministry, from crop production to animal production.
Recently, President of the Eswatini National Agricultural Union (ESNAU), Dumsani Masondo, said his union had engaged the Ministry of Agriculture to establish dialogues with farmers on how the issue of food insecurity in the country could be addressed.
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Masondo said they had requested the government to support farmers with irrigation systems and fencing systems, among other things.
The president said the country had the potential to be self-sufficient, but just needed the government to prioritise the agriculture sector.
It is worth noting that from this year on, the budget allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture dropped to E1.55 billion from the E1.63 billion allocated in 2023.
Worth noting is that the Agriculture Sector Strategy was formulated to drive agriculture development in the country for the next 5 years (2018 -2023).
It had been formulated based on the National Development Strategy (NDS) and other national strategies aimed at reviving the economy of Eswatini and improving the overall welfare of Emaswati.
The premise of the plan is also hinged on the sector policies and is informed by the 2014 Malabo Declaration on accelerated agricultural growth and transformation for shared prosperity and improved livelihoods; where the key targets
include eliminating hunger, halving poverty, and tripling intra-Africa trade among others.
The vision of the strategy is to optimize the utilization of agricultural resources to create wealth for Emaswati where the goals are to increase the contribution of the sector to economic development, reduce poverty, and increase food security.
These will be achieved through various subsector strategies aimed at increasing production and productivity for both crops and livestock products.
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The production will be sustained through the activation of policies and legislation that will provide an enabling environment for the sustainable operation of agricultural enterprises.
The implementation approach will include a strong mobilisation of the private sector to strengthen the prioritised
commodity value chains through setting up commercial anchor farms, providing viable agricultural finance products, and providing markets for smallholder producers.
Like all strategies, the success of this agriculture strategy will depend on the “buy-in” by all stakeholders and a concerted effort to provide adequate resources for rolling out the proposed
strategic interventions.
During implementation there is a need for regular monitoring, re-planning, and adjustment per new evidence and knowledge, thus the strategy should not be viewed as a static document.