The Eswatini Water and Agricultural Development Enterprise’s (EWADE) track record in implementing projects has been applauded by the Ministry of Finance.
Minister Neal Rijkenberg says these projects put farmer groups together, enabling them to farm land for commercial use.
This has in turn taken a lot of people out of poverty and put them in farming companies.
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“And, we’re talking of thousands of people being involved in the farming companies, thousands of people getting jobs around these areas.
The products that are going to be produced over here, we’re looking at cotton, and we’re looking at energy projects around here now, even though it really will be those farming communities that will make the final decision,” he said.
The Minister said such projects could mean thousands of jobs in the production of cotton thread and materials that will be fed into the textile industry.
Therefore, the project being big will need a lot of financing, in which the Ministry of Finance is very involved, and working on it almost on a day-to-day basis.
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“But we believe that the project is going to have a massive impact. And, when that impact comes, one can look at where there are opportunities in the country.
There will be a lot of opportunities for all sorts of activities taking place, be it just shops and vendors, and all sorts of supply chains around logistics that will be able to expand their businesses to or start businesses.
We believe it’s going to have a big impact on the communities,” said the Minister.
