E300M EQUIPMENT FROM INDIA LIES IDLE

MBABANE – Some agricultural equipment that was bought in 2012 through a loan amounting to E300 million from India is lying idle and not being used.

The farm implements have been left to rot at the various Rural Development Areas (RDAs). According to impeccable sources within the Ministry of Agriculture, this equipment or farm implements  include tractors, and other agricultural implements. The source revealed that some of the equipment had never been used since they were procured from India. Even though the Indian Government had extended a line of credit to Eswatini to procure the farm implements, inclusive of tractors, these were to be bought from the Asian country.

The source said some of mechanics within the ministry had said that the equipment could not be used in the country due to its quality and specifications. The source said this equipment could only be used in sandy regions unlike here in Eswatini where there was a variation of soil types.

Mechanics

The source mentioned that after these points were raised that the equipment would not be suitable to be used in the country, government went to get mechanics from India to test the equipment on Eswatini soil. The source wondered why government decided to seek foreign mechanics while there were local ones who were equally skilled and qualified to give an opinion. The source added that the country was running in short supply of specific types of ploughs which were ‘four disc’ types, while during this transaction, government bought the ‘two disc’ types, which were not suitable to be used locally. He added that even if they bought the ‘four disc’ types, they would need certain tractors which would be suitable to drag the ploughs, adding that the tractors bought from India were not suitable.

One of the mechanics within the tractor hire service in the Ministry of Agriculture said he was asked by his superiors if these ploughs could be modified and he responded to the affirmative, however, with some reservations. The mechanic said the cost of modifying the ploughs would be quite high hence they (ploughs) were then ignored. “We had to consider between modifying the disc ploughs and procuring new ones and as a result, the disc ploughs were left like that completely,” said the source. Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Agriculture Bongani Masuku said before the equipment was bought, it was tested and most RDAs used it for a while.

Criticised

Masuku acknowledged that when the equipment arrived in the country, it was criticised for being weak such that some mechanics specialists were brought in from India to test it and they found it fit to be used locally. He acknowledged though that some of the equipment bought was not used frequently. He added that some of the disc ploughs that were bought were two scale types while in the country the suitable ones were three scale types. When asked about the repayment of the loan, Masuku said his ministry was not responsible for the repayment but rather the Ministry of Finance was.

When sought for comment, Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg could not be reached as a message sent to him had not been responded to by the time of compiling this report. He did not answer his phone when called yesterday. This reporter wanted to ascertain how much of the loan the Eswatini government had repaid to India.

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