ESWADE’S PLAN TO DECREASE IMPORTS

Mbabane - Access to water increases the productivity of fields and farms, thus making the outcome of the produce greater.

The Eswatini Water & Agricultural Development Enterprise (ESWADE) E3 billion project will improve over 100 fields and farms irrigation systems. ESWADE will improve the distribution system to supply water at St Philips, Mconcwane/Mcathuvane, Maloma and Sigwe irrigation areas, which is about 10 000h. The fields and farms will have adequate water supply and this will help them increase productivity. ESWADE expert Engineer Enock Dlamini said the project will improve the irrigation system of 138 farms situated in the Shiselweni Region.

He said government proposed a holistic development vision for Mkhondvo Ngwavuma Water Augmentation Project (MNWAP) to maximise the value that could be attained. “During the 2014 2016 drought, the Government of Eswatini highlighted the importance of investing in bulk water as part of the mitigating measures against future expected drought occurrences with climate change”, he said.

Flows

Dlamini said ESWADE was then tasked to look at ways to transfer water from the Mkhondvo River to augment the limited flows of the Ngwavuma River, which is relatively dry and non-perennial. He added that they then commissioned a Consulting Firm to undertake Feasibility Studies and Detailed Designs of the Mkhondvo-Ngwavuma Water Augmentation Project. The engineer also mentioned that the government aims to develop an integrated development master plan covering all sectors of the economy to realise the holistic development vision. “The master plan will bring together various sectorial and regional plans to bring to fruition an integrated development programme for the MNWAP areas,” he said. Dlamini also mentioned that government is working with development partners including the African Development Bank to develop the Integrated Development Master Plan for MNWAP.

Ncamiso Magagula, a feedlot farmer at Mcathuvane, said the irrigation plan was a necessity to their business as it was struggling. He said they (feedlot farmers) have a challenge of meeting the demands of the market in time due to inadequate resources. “We have customers but we fail to supply them on time because the cost of production causes a delay in our line of work, which affects everything,” he said. The farmer added that the bank’s unwillingness to fund them contributed to the failure of many of their businesses. Eswatini will continue to import more and export less as the agriculture and farming industry production rate continues to decline in the overall business segmentation.

Produce

This sector was leading in the country, with production sufficient enough to supply both local and international markets. Local farmers seem to be finding it difficult to produce enough products to supply both local and international markets, which are demanding. More products which were produce locally are now imported to the country, which increases supply cost making them more expensive. The decrease observed in the agriculture sector has resulted to an increase in the wholesale and retail sector. This was mentioned by Mluleki Dlamini, the Director of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) last week. Dlamini said the agriculture and farming sector needed to grow in order to decrease the level of imports in the country.

He said the decline in this sector has resulted the country to rely more on imported products which were expensive to supply and buy. “The decrease in agriculture production has resulted to the price of products to increase in stores because most of them are now acquired abroad,” he said. Dlamini said the wholesale and retail business is leading because it relies more on the movement and supply of goods. He said the movement increased when agriculture and farming decreased because most produce, which was produced locally was halted. “Most farmers have stopped producing the products which are now being imported in large quantities causing the shift in the sector,” said the Director. For the past three years, the country has imported more than it has exported. This has led to an increase in inflation and interest rate. The increase in imported products especially food, has also forced the central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) to shift policies and introduce new bonds.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: