Swaziland farmers increase sugar cane planting, use of irrigation

Swaziland, Afriac's fourth largest producer of sugar (after  South Africa, Egypt and Sudan), is set to increase production as more small scale farmers take up sugar cane cultivation, and access to irrigation increases. A replanting programme with higher-yielding varieties is also underway.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Mike Matsebula, chief executive officer of the Swaziland Sugar Association, projected that production may rise to 656,250 tonnes in 2013, a rise of 5% over the 2012 figure of 625,000 tonnes.

African Agriculture

The plight of smallholder sugar cane farmers in Swaziland

As a consequence of a 37% decline in the value of the Euro against the Rand since 2002, the smallholder sugar farming sector in Swaziland is facing a severe financial crisis. This was a major factor contributing to a 21% decline in the sucrose price between 2002 and 2005. With smallholder farmers responsible for investment in on-farm capital equipment including irrigation systems, the decline in the sucrose price has had profound effects on their financial viability. This is further compounded by the high interest rates charged on their finance.
Currently, newly established smallholder sugar farmers pay some 31% of total earnings in interest for both seasonal and capital loans.  In many cases, this leaves insufficient funds to cover even the repayment of the seasonal loan.  This is contributing to growing levels of indebtedness amongst smallholder sugar farmers.  This is proving a direct challenge to the operation of farmer associations as this leaves no income for distribution to members. Some of the farmers are finding their own solutions to the income needs of their families and such activities have led to a deterioration in the efficiency of smallholder sugar production.

It is essential that this downward cycle of declining efficiency be halted and reversed, before the financial effects of EU sugar sector reform are felt through the wider economy in Swaziland.  Without such reversal and support, newly established smallholder sugar farms will become financially non-viable. The key to reversing this downward cycle is the financial restructuring of smallholder loans, and concerted efforts to improve efficiency.

Financial restructuring of existing loans is essential, since without it smallholder farmers will see no personal benefit from the implementation of measures to improve yields, increase sucrose content and reduce seasonal costs. Put simply, under current circumstances the benefits of any improvements in production efficiency are not realised as the beneficiaries of such are the owners of the capital they have borrowed. The argument goes thus, “why improve when the one to benefit from such will be the bank, not me?”. Also, the average operating costs in the smallholder sugar sector increase 40% since 2002.

Review of operating costs of smallholder sugar farmers

(based on seasonal loans extended) 

	2001	2003	2005	% change
Capital Costs per hectare (R)	22,000	26,000	29,000	+32%
Seasonal Costs per hectare (R)	10,000	11,000	14,000	+40%

If a form of financial restructuring can be undertaken which ensures that smallholder farmers gain the financial benefit of any innovations adopted and which also ensures that, over time,  financial institutions get their money back (with in a additional a small return), then a sustainable basis can be laid for Swazi smallholder sugar production, which enables it to survive the financial consequences of EU sugar sector reform. In the absence of such a financial restructuring the current downward cycle of declining efficiency and escalating indebtedness will continue.  This will be bad for smallholder sugar farming in Swaziland and bad for the financial institutions which have lent extensively to the smallholder sugar farming sector.

Why the Current Situation is Financially Unstainable The table below indicates the sucrose price (Emal 1,666 per tonne) which would be required to meet current loan obligations under the currently prevailing circumstances in which: average investment costs per ha are  Emal. 29,000;  seasonal loans amount to Emal. 14,000 per ha; the cane yield is 100 tons per ha;  the sucrose content is 13.5% the interest on capital loans is 15.5% and the repayment period 7 years; the interest rate charged on seasonal loans is 15.5%. It further indicates the escalating scale of indebtness under different price scenarios under these assumptions. Price (Emal/ton) Income Repayments (Emal) Net income SHF (Emal/ha) Debt Situation (Emal) 1,000 13,500 22,787.3 -9,287 +9.287 1,100 14,850 22,787.3 -7,937 +7,937 1,200 16,200 22,787.3 -6,584 +6,584 1,300 17,550 22,787.3 -5,237 +5,237 1,400 18,900 22,787.3 -3,887 +3,887 1,500 20,600 22,787.3 -2,537 +2,537 1,600 21,600 22,787.3 -1,187 +1,187 ...... ...... .... ..... .... ...... ...... .... .... .... 1,666 Breakeven Price .... .... It further indicates the escalating scale of indebtedness under different price scenarios under these assumptions.

What type of financial restructuring is required

Analysis undertaken by the Swaziland Sugar Association suggests that, for the smallholder sugar-farming sector to be placed on a sustainable financial basis, two things need to happen:

a)  seasonal loans need to be provided from a grant financed seasonal loan revolving fund on which a nominal administrative charge of 4% is charged;

b) the interest rate paid by farmers on capital investment loans needs to be brought down to 7% (and the repayment period extended to 10 years), so as to ensure that there is a real incentive to adopt innovations which improve yields, increase sucrose content and reduce seasonal costs.

The question arises how can this be achieved without pushing the financial institutions involved in lending to the sugar sector into financial difficulties?

…how this can be achieved…

The issue of seasonal loans and capital loans need to be tackled differently.  For seasonal loans the requirement is for the mobilization of grant financing to constitute the revolving fund.  This would need to mobilise Emal.14 million per 1,000 ha of smallholder sugar production involved in the scheme.  A tripartite approach involving contributions from the sugar industry (both as a whole and from the millers directly), the Government of Swaziland and international donors offers the best way forward for the constitution of this scheme.

For capital loans four  steps appear to be required:

1) a harmonization of interest rates by the financial institutions across all smallholder farmers involved in the scheme;
2) the unilateral reduction of interest rates charged by the financial institutions involved in the scheme to 12% and extension of the loan repayment period to 10 years;
3) the provision of an annual interest rate subsidy  of 5% from the specially constituted Restructuring and Diversification Fund, envisaged under the “Budget Support/ Levy swap” arrangement

4)  the linking of access to the interest rate subsidy facility and seasonal loan facility to the adoption of an agreed code of conduct on  best farming practices and best financial management practices. 

Such a scheme would restore financial stability to the smallholder-farming sector and lay the basis for the introduction of measures to improve yields, increase sucrose content and reduce seasonal costs.   These improvements would then equip the smallholder sector to be better able to cope with the consequences of EU sugar sector reform.

The "Budget Support/Sugar Levy Swap" Arrangement This simple proposal aims to address both the principal and most direct form of government revenue losses arising from the consequences of EU sugar sector reform and the need to secure the early release of financing for stakeholder led restructuring and diversification initiatives. It involves the Government of Swaziland seeking from the EU additional annual budgetary support equivalent to the earnings currently derived from the “sugar levy” (some €3.6 million).   Such a programme would extend over the eight year time frame of the EU sugar sector assistance programme.        In parallel with this, the government of Swaziland would set the “sugar levy” at zero while the Sugar industry through the Swaziland Sugar Association would raise a “restructuring levy” equivalent to the “sugar levy”, which would be paid into a “Restructuring and Diversification Assistance Fund”.  This fund would then provide financial resources for support to specific targeted restructuring and diversification initiatives, designed to minimise the adverse effects of EU sugar sector reform on the Swazi economy and society. The first priority for this fund would be the provision of a 5% interest rate subsidy on smallholder capital investment loans and a contribution to the seasonal loan revolving fund.

The benefits of the scheme 

The implementation of this scheme will put money into the hands of sugar farmers at the end of each season, with the amount of income distributed at the end of the season depending on the success achieved in adopting innovations to improve yields and sucrose content.  The successful adoption of measures to improve yields and sucrose content would be greatly improved if farmers know they would get the benefits of such innovations come the end of the sugar season.  What is more it would seem reasonable to assume that efforts to contain the escalation in seasonal costs would stand a good chance of success, if this directly increased the money paid out to smallholder sugar farmers at the end of the season.

In terms of the interests of the financial institutions, this scheme would still provide the financial institutions with a rate of interest above that recently charged for car loans in Swaziland.  It would furthermore remove the burden of seasonal loans, repayment of which is becoming more and more difficult.  It would also, of course, remove the threat of substantial defaults on sugar sector loans which overhangs the financial institutions involved, since this scheme would ensure that the financial institutions eventually got their money back.

 Swaziland Sugar Association

Company introduces agriculture insurance in Swaziland

by Sifiso Sibandze

Upcoming Swaziland short term insurer, Lidwala Insurance Company has introduced an Agricultural Insurance Package targeted at both the small and large commercial farmer.

The package consists of three different policies; Livestock Comprehensive Policy, Sugar Cane Protection Policy and Farm Comprehensive Policy covers.

This was disclosed by Lidwala’s acting Marketing and Claims Manager Octavia Kunene. Kunene said the introduction of this package was along the company’s main thrust to continuously drive growth by diversifying its portfolio through the introduction of tailor-made and customer relevant products. Lidwala Insurance Company is the first company in the country to come up with such an insurance policy.

This will come as good news to commercial farmers as they had been calling for such products from the insurance industry.

According to Kunene, the livestock comprehensive policy covers includes all kinds of domestic animals ranging from cattle, sheep, goats and chickens among others. "The policy comprises of fire, diseases and transit sections. Regarding fire, it covers loss of an animal as a result of perils such as fire, lightning, explosion, electrocution, malicious damage and riot," she explained.

She said the disease aspect of the policy is specifically designed for those who wish to cover loss of their cattle against specific diseases but excluding pandemics such as foot and mouth and anthrax, while the transit section covers loss or injury to the insured animals while on transit, including theft.

"The Sugar Cane Protection Policy is specifically structured and tailor made for sugar cane growers who may be small or large scale commercial farmers," she said, adding that this policy has an allied perils section that covers loss or damage to cane as a result of fire, malicious damage and riot.

In addition Kunene said the company has in conjunction with its re-insurers arranged for hail damage cover which would be optional should the client specifically wish to cover the sugar cane against this peril.

Kunene said the farm comprehensive policy was tailor-made for farmers who were into diversified farming and consists of personal insurance, farming insurance and motor combined insurance sections.

"The personal insurance section caters for the farmer’s private dwellings (buildings) and household contents at the farm, risks, personal accident and personal liability cover," she explained.

Moreover, the farming insurance section covers the business operations on the farm and this ranges from crop insurance such as vegetables, tomatoes, paprika, wheat and sorghum with an option for hail damage cover.

"The insurer can insure against buildings, money robbery, transit among others," she said.

Regarding the Motor Combined Section, Kunene said it covered the farmer’s vehicles and these could range from private, commercial vehicles, buses, motorcycles, trailers and special types that constitute equipment such as combine harvesters, tractors among others. The cover ranges from comprehensive, full third party fire and theft and full third party only.

Kunene indicated that the agricultural products currently being rolled out by Lidwala Insurance Company were specifically in terms of the perils covered by the policies at hand and clients were free to give them as collateral against funding that may be provided by local financial institutions.

Looking into the future, Kunene said the company was already working on consolidating the above products by structuring weather index related insurance that will cover risks such as drought.

Swazi Times

Swaziland: No more subsidized agricultural inputs

Swaziland’s economic crisis has forced the government to put on ice the agricultural input scheme that has made the survival of many subsistence farmers and their families less precarious on communal Swazi Nation Land, where 70 percent of the 1.1 million population live.

“There is no seed subsidizing now. We used to do it, and we are talking about reviving the programme,” said Xoxile Nxumalo of the agriculture ministry. Under the Swazi Agricultural Development Programme, seeds were sold at a discount or provided free of charge to subsistence farmers working on communal land.

Nxumalo said discussions were taking place to provide discount tractor hire. Poor farmers could previously use the government’s tractor fleet at reduced rates but fuel shortages have put a stop to the service. In 2010 a government tractor could be hired for about R130 (US$17.30) an hour, compared to about R200 (US$26.60) per hour for a privately owned tractor.

This is the first growing season where the inputs have been withdrawn. Planting starts when the rains begin, usually between October and November. The mountainous highveld usually has ample rains, and enough rain falls in the warmer middle veld for most of the crop production. In the drought-prone low middle veld and eastern lowveld rainfall is often problematic and food assistance has regularly been required in the past two decades, particularly in the eastern Lubombo region.

A recent long-range prediction by the Swaziland Meteorological Department forecast rains arriving late in 2011, but ending at their usual time in March/April, so reducing the cropping season.

“Seven out of ten Swazis survive as peasant farmers on government-owned land, and while subsistence farming worked when the population was small, a growth in population has meant this old way of doing things is not sustainable. Swaziland has become dependant on food aid, despite the nation’s ability to feed herself,” Amos Ndwandwe, an agriculture field officer in the central Manzini region, told IRIN.

“It is not that Swaziland lacks good land. We have lots of good land, but the land management system is a feudal arrangement that was not made for modern times. If the small landholder farmers could pool their land and get financing for irrigation and modern equipment, Swaziland’s food security would be ensured in one season,” he said.

Thembumenzi Dube, a statistician at the agriculture ministry, told IRIN: “The area planted in 2010/11 was 70,344 hectares, which showed an increase of about 20 percent compared to the previous season. The increase in area planted could be attributed to a number of factors, including the onset of the rainfall season countrywide, with fair distribution.

“The seasonal [rainfall] forecast had also indicated normal to above normal rainfall in the October to December period... The Ministry of Agriculture’s efforts to encourage farmers to make use of available resources such as tractors could have also played a role,” he said.

The maize harvest for the 2010/2011 season was 84,696 metric tons, against a national requirement of the staple grain of 113,000 tons, in a season when small-scale farmers had access to subsidised seed distribution and tractor hire.

The 2011 planting season has coincided with a dry spell and most small-scale farmers are dependent on rain to water their crops. Security of tenure is tenuous on Swazi Nation Land, and the majority have few or no financial resources to improve the land or install irrigation systems.

King Mswati directly appoints Swaziland’s about 300 chiefs, who can arbitrarily evict any of their subjects from communal land. Analysts say this ensures that the ban on political activities reaches all domains of Swazi society, as anyone seen to be involved in political activity can have their land confiscated without recourse.

“I live on the banks of a river [the Nkomati]. My maize crops could easily thrive if I had a simple pump and piping. What I harvest would pay for the loan, but I have no collateral because there is nothing to offer the bank. We Swazis live under chiefs - this land belongs to the king,” Sipho Magagula, a farmer in the eastern Lubombo region.

“The last harvest [earlier in 2011] was better than last year but some people are still on food assistance, especially in the Lubombo region,” Nxumalo said.

More than 100,000 Swazis receive some form of food assistance from governmental programmes and international donor schemes.

Other social services such as educational grants and pensions have either become erratic or have been suspended as the country ruled by sub-Sahara’s last absolute monarch, Mswati III, struggles to deal with the decline of receipts from the Southern African Customs Union, and profligate spending by the government and the royal household.

An agricultural specialist, who declined to be named said, “There are 200,000 OVC [orphans and vulnerable children] in Swaziland, and if you add the growing number of people on Swazi Nation Land with inadequate crop yields, we are looking at least a third of the population needing food assistance.”

IRIN

Swaziland receives aid for rice irrigation from Taiwan

by Winile Mavuso

The government of the Republic of China on Taiwan has donated E35 million towards the development of a rice irrigation scheme to be established in the Hhohho region.

The funds will be used to develop a 100-hectare Hhateni Irrigation Scheme. It is expected to increase production of rice in the Hhohho region to about 800 tonnes per year.

Republic of China on Taiwan Ambassador Peter Tsai explained, “The Hhateni Rice Development project will increase the total area under rice production to about 181 hectares and can produce about 800 tonnes of rice annually,” he said.

Swazi Observer

Swaziland sugar production to rise

by Duncan Miriri

Swaziland's sugar production is likely to jump by a quarter in the next five years, thanks to more land being put under cultivation, an industry group said on March 25.

Mike Matsebula, chief executive of Swaziland Sugar Association, said at a conference on sugar in the Kenyan capital Nairobi the southern African producer of the sweetener will also raise production by about 11 percent this year.

"We are currently producing, in round numbers, 600,000 tonnes (per year). In five years, we will be producing an additional 150,000 tonnes at least," he said.

Sugar is the second biggest source of foreign exchange for the country, ranked third-largest sugar producer in Africa.

"More land is being brought under cane. There is at least two major irrigation projects, which are intended to provide water for more cane that is going to be cultivated," Matsebula said.

He put the new land to be planted with sugar at 12,000 hectares in the next five years and 1,000 this year, on top of the 44,000 hectares already under cultivation.

Although it has low lying lands with good soil and a warm climate ideal for sugar growing, a drought cut its production to 582,000 tonnes last year from just over 600,000 tonnes in 2009.

But that will also serve to spur the expected jump in production this year, Matsebula said. "We are starting from a lower base than it would have been the case otherwise," he said.

Swaziland exports half of its sugar output to east Africa and Europe, while the rest is consumed locally and in the Southern Africa Customs Union, under the Southern African Development Community, which is treated as a domestic market.

"We are investigating west Africa and we are doing so jointly as the SADC sugar industries because as an individual country we can't compete with the present supplier to west Africa because of distance and other logistical considerations," Matsebula said.

But to get to that market, SADC will seek preferential terms to compete with other suppliers, mainly Brazil, which enjoys low freight costs due to bulk-shipping, he added.

"For us to be able to really exploit the west African markets there has to be preferential arrangements given by west Africa," he said.

Although Swaziland is one of the more efficient producers in Africa at 14 cents per lb, the industry faces challenges from rising energy costs. Electricity is used to power irrigation pumps while coal is used to fire boilers.

It has also not benefited from the jump in the international price of sugar, which hit a 30-year high in February of 36.08 cents a lb but has since fallen back and was trading on Friday at around 27.30 cents.

"Because you have long term contracts, then you are not able to benefit from those spikes ... we have only benefited a little bit where we were able to move uncommitted sugar to the world market including east Africa," Matsebula said.

"It gives us good lessons going forward. We now have to revise our marketing strategy and make sure that we can anticipate such developments in future."

Of the three sugar mills in the country, two are owned by the Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation, while the other one is jointly held by South Africa's Illovo Sugar and a local firm.

Reuters

Swaziland running out of land for farming

Population growth, adherence to land distribution customs, and a small country are combining to make Swaziland a crowded place, rapidly running out of room to achieve food security.

The population has doubled to more than one million since independence from Britain in 1968, but according to custom each Swazi son is given a portion of land on the family farm, located on communal Swazi Nation Land administered by traditional chiefs, to build a home, cultivate maize and graze cattle.

The effects of relentless subdivision are beginning to be felt in a country where about 80 percent of the population reside in rural areas, under the rule of sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch, King Mswati III, a staunch traditionalist.

"If you divide a meal into smaller and smaller pieces to feed more people there comes a time when everyone goes hungry," said Samuel Dlamini, 25, a farmer in the central Manzini region, 70km east of the capital Mbabane.

"When we were children there were eight of us living off this small farm," he said. Dlamini is married with two children, but his three older brothers, their wives and children, and one of his two sisters all still live on the family homestead.

"Now there are 19 people. When we took our wives our father gave each son part of the farm. We must support our families on the parcel, but it's not possible," he said.

Sedentary living is a relatively new concept; in earlier times a pastoralist lifestyle saw Swazis migrating to various seasonal grazing pastures, and it was not until the 1800s that maize, now the staple food, began to be cultivated.

The number of people has finally caught up with the land area available. "There are no new places now for young people to go," Dlamini said.

The growing scarcity of land is moving the goal of achieving food security further out of reach, and a drought in 2007 made nearly half the population dependent on donor feeding schemes.

"It's true; we've noticed what Mr Dlamini is saying. Even the people we give seeds to, they tell us their farms are one hectare or 1.5 hectares, and we ask, 'Is it worth it?' They can't feed themselves," said Olga Tsabedze, of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's Swaziland office.

The land under cultivation is also diminishing. During the 2001/02 season, 71,000 hectares were cultivated with maize, in 2004/05 this dropped to 56,000 hectares, and in 2006/07 - the last year statistics for which were available - the amount of land under maize cultivation fell to 51,000 hectares.

"We see that the farms are shrinking all the time; we are seeing more and more land going over to housing. We are seeing less cattle production, with less rangeland due to deterioration caused by overgrazing," said Bheki Bhembi, head of the research department at the Central Bank of Swaziland.

"People feed themselves more by growing maize than raising cattle. With cattle it is more of stock-wealth issue [wealth and status are measured by the number of cattle owned] instead of food production," Bhembi said.

A Swaziland Central Bank report noted that "Prospects for maize production, like all other dry-land agricultural produce, are not encouraging. This bleak outlook is due to unpredictable and unreliable weather conditions. Output will also be negatively affected by rising input costs, coupled with the inherent risks of dry-land production."

Even with good rains, the shrinking size of farms as each new generation carves up the land into smaller slices heightens the threat to food sufficiency. "Some of the agriculture ministry extension officers are encouraging small landholder farmers to pool their land and resources," Tsabedze said.

Eric Simelane, a government agricultural extension officer, said: "It's economy of scale - if the farmers can patch their fields together to the size they once were, then farming would be more efficient and yields would increase."

IRIN

Sugar prices tempt small-scale Swazi farmers away from food crops

Swaziland's small-scale farmers are succumbing to the temptation of soaring sugar prices, cultivating cane at the expense of edible crops in the food-stressed country.

Raw sugar prices have reached a 28-year high, driven by fears that demand will outstrip supply on the back of a poor 2008/09 crop in India, with another below average harvest expected, and Brazil's increasing use of sugar cane to manufacture ethanol for biofuel.

Observers are divided on the merits of cash crops in favour of subsistence food production, which are challenging long-held views about food security.

"It is simplistic to say that cultivating export crops robs starving people of food here at home. In fact, that's wrong," said Amos Ndwandwe, an agricultural extension officer in the eastern Lubombo region. This has been Swaziland's main cane-growing area for generations.

Tammy Dlamini, a programme officer at the UN World Food Programme (WFP), which in recent years has provided food assistance to more than 60 percent of the country's roughly one million people, agreed.

"For us, food security is not just production; our position is that people are going hungry - not because there isn't food production, but because they don't have enough money to purchase food."

The International Sugar Organization expects sugar prices to rise 76 percent in 2009, making it an attractive proposition for small farmers to cultivate, as it will yield far higher profits than cereal or vegetable crops, whose excess after household consumption is sold at local markets to obtain cash.

A household survey by the WFP and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture, found that farming families depended on local shops for basic foodstuffs. However, in a country where the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has estimated that two out of three people live in chronic poverty, the necessary cash is not always available.

Food security is not just production; our position is that people are going hungry - not because there isn't food production, but because they don't have enough money to purchase food "Food is in the shops - Swazis purchase over 70 percent of what they eat [rather than growing it]. [Being] next to South Africa [which exports food] means that on a national level there is no food shortage; on a household level we experience shortages due to poverty," Dlamini said.

"Job losses, not crop losses due to bad weather, have had the biggest impact on food security this year [2009]; more than anything, joblessness hinders food security."

Sugar, colloquially known as "Swazi gold", has been the top export for decades. "In Swaziland there has been some debate on how much arable land should be made available to growing feedstocks for ethanol, because that would be coming at the expense of such crops as maize, which is the staple crop," said Michael Matsebula, CEO of the Swaziland Sugar Association.

"At the end of the day it is a question of relative prices, so if an ordinary household in the rural areas can get more money producing cassava that will go into ethanol production, as opposed to maize for consumption purposes, then they will go for cassava. This is where it is important for government to come in with support policies so it is attractive to grow maize," Matsebula said.

African sugar cultivation has been increasing: from 2004 to 2007 production averaged 9.63 million tons, or 6.4 percent of world production; exports reached 3.38 million tons, or 7 percent of world exports, making the continent's sugar sales higher than its portion of world production.

"Africa is punching above its weight when it comes to global sugar trading interactions," Matsebula told an International Sugar Conference in Luxor, Egypt, in March. The continent's share of global consumption rose from 3.9 percent in 2000 to 4.9 percent by 2007.

The combined effects of India's anticipated poor harvest and bad weather in Brazil are expected to place a higher premium on African sugar. "The net income that rural households can make from sugar cane at this point of time is still higher than any other crop," Matsebula noted.

Small-scale farmers have been encouraged to form cooperatives. "There is investment going on. One of the mills has actually put in a lot of money to expand its production capacity so it takes cane grown in the Lower Usuthu Irrigation Scheme," he said of a government initiative to divert water from a major river for use by farmer cooperatives.

Although Swaziland's income from sugar exports rose last year, the amount of land devoted to cane cultivation diminished. "We are still encouraging farmers to form cooperatives, and they are doing that," Matsebula said.

"There are challenges of course. Some of the small farmers are finding it difficult to live within the constitutions of the associations, so there is a need for education to ensure there are no squabbles that lead to the farmers associations breaking up," he said, referring to land-use arguments and chieftaincy disputes, where one chief claims land being used by a cooperative formed under a neighbouring chief.

WFP's Dlamini said, "We must ask who is being targeted with the sugar cane initiatives? It is not always the poorest in the community who benefit. The poor do not have the land to contribute to a cooperative, they are illiterate and can't deal with documents and agreements, they cannot afford joining fees. So an educational component must enter into it. From a food security point of view, who are these schemes targeting?"

IRIN

Swazi environmentalists question cost versus benefits of jatropha

By Fanyana Mabuza

The capture on camera of the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Swaziland Environmental Authority SEA, Irma Allen, has ruffled a few environmental feathers and has spurred the question from many, of whether government or the SEA rather, was in full support of the growing of Jatropha in the country.


This hardy tree, whose seeds are said to possess bio-fuel qualities, has pitted environmentalist groups and D1 Oils, a company which is intent on planting these trees to later harvest the seeds to manufacture bio-fuels in the country. A number of players in the country’s environmental field had begun to wonder whether Allen’s planting of the Jatropha tree was the SEA’s endorsement of the Jatropha project.


The bone of contention here is that if the country goes full steam into Jatropha cultivation and production, it shall eat away on the land for food production, thus worsening the food crisis in the country. Jatropha detractors also contend that the true potential of the tree producing bio-fuels had not been proved as yet, while the D1 Oils Company had begun planting Jatropha pilot fields in the country.

Allen, when called for comment, stated that her planting of the tree during a D1 Oils end of year party last year was by no means SEA’s endorsement of the Jatropha project. She mentioned that she was invited as guest to that function, and she took the opportunity with both hands so she could familiarise herself more about the project. “As chair of the SEA board, I have a responsibility to familiarise myself with such issues, and there is no better way than going out there and hearing it from the horse’s mouth, so as to make informed decisions. They have a small ceremonial garden where they ask their guests and visitors to plant a tree, and when I was asked to do that, I understood the spirit and agreed. But it must be stressed that my planting of the tree was by no means an endorsement by SEA of the Jatropha project in the country,” she said.


Allen continued that as an organisation, SEA was concerned about sustainable development and had a duty to monitor companies and ensure that they abide by the rules and regulations formulated by the country in a bid to attain that kind of development.“We cannot block development but can only ensure that it occurs in the right way, and not be detrimental to the environment.”


She said as far as SEA was concerned, they were still waiting for a project assessment report from D1 Oils, and it was from that report that they can make a final decision over the issue. She observed that indeed the issue was very controversial in that the plants would compete with land for food, but added that the areas targeted by D1 Oils were not utilised, hence the project would not compete with land for food.balance“Again, we should also strive to maintain a good balance between crops for food and crops for cash. For example, we have other alien plants like pine and cotton which are not food crops but cash. “The balance has been working well so far, and if Jatropha is researched well and cultivated in a responsible manner, there can be no way it would compete with the land for food.”


Allen insisted that her planting of that tree at D1Oils was not in anyway a SEA endorsement and it was done in her personal capacity, though she may have been invited on her capacity as Chair of the SEA board, adding that if the picture may have caused some confusion and consternation, she was sorry about it.


Swazi Observer

Commercial farming irrigation project being studied in Swaziland

A feasibility study on the prospects of establishing a large scale, commercial farming irrigation scheme at Lavumisa will soon be conducted.

This follows the official signing of a E3.5m grant by the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) to the country. The grant was awarded to Swaziland on Novmber 7 following a number of consultative meetings held between BADEA’s director general Abdelaziz Khelef and different ministers after his arrival. Khelef’s visit follows an invitation made by His Majesty King Mswati III to the bank to visit the country.

Minister of Finance Majozi Sithole said the feasibility study would establish amongst other things whether Lavumisa does have enough water to be used for commercial purposes in the first place.

Sithole said after the study had been completed, government would later explore the prospects of funding such an initiative, should it be discovered to be initiative. In this regard, he said implementation of this project would also depend to a large extent the availability of funds.

“We are all well aware of the fact that the Lavumisa area is one of the hardest hit by drought, and it goes without saying that the people there are in dire need for water resources both for commercial and subsistence use,” he said.

BADEA has been instrumental in leveraging cooperation with other Arab financial institutions such as OPEC and the Kuwait Fund for the country. The bank has also financed technical assistance grants to finance training courses officers in the field of administration development for some cadres in the ministries and government institutions. This financing also included training and was to the tune of U$ 130 000.

The bank’s financing in this division amounts to about E60m. Swaziland has had a long and beneficial relationship with BADEA, which has especially contributed to the infrastructural development of the economy. The bank has also been instrumental in leveraging cooperation with other Arab financial institutions such as OPEC and the Kuwait Fund. Khelef is expected to visit the Lower Usuthu Irrigation Programme (LUSIP) today, a project co- financed by the bank.

Cultural reticence, management problems reduce Swaziland´s beef export potential

Swaziland's failure to take advantage of the opportunity to export unlimited quantities of beef to the lucrative European Union (EU) market is being attributed to poor animal husbandry, high livestock mortality rates, and cultural practices that deter farmers from selling their cattle.

The EU's new trade agreement with the impoverished country has opened the world's richest market to Swaziland's hormone-free beef but the lure of cash has failed to entice farmers to sell, and few people will benefit from the trade concessions even though the majority of Swazis own cattle.

"Swaziland used to have a quota of 10,000 tonnes of beef entering the EU market, and Swazi beef was taxed a levy of eight percent; now there is no limit to the amount we can ship, and no tax levy," said Jon Williams, managing director of Swaziland Meat Industries (SMI), the national abattoir. "What is more, Swazi beef is 100 percent hormone free, a requirement for EU beef imports. That is why relatively little beef is sent there [to the EU] from the US. All Swazi beef we can lay our hands on we export, and for domestic use we import beef from South Africa, which may not be hormone free," Williams said.

SMI, which facilitates cattle sales, has so far shipped only 300 tonnes to the EU in 2008. About 80 percent of Swaziland's one million people live on communal Swazi Nation Land (SNL), in a system with King Mswati III as the head of state in sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarchy, and in which chiefs allocate land and grazing rights. Despite efforts to promote commercial farming, subsistence farming is practiced by most SNL residents, who comprise the bulk of the 600,000 Swazis living in chronic poverty, according to the UN Development Programme.

"The sale of a cow would reap enormous cash benefits for a typical family – money to buy food and to educate children," said Sandile Fakudze, an agriculture extension officer in the central Manzini region. "Swazis are reluctant to part with their cattle, and this is an enormous problem.

The [national] herd is in trouble; deaths are high," said Roland Dlamini, acting director of Veterinary Services in the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives. "The fertility rate is a problem - a cow will give birth every three years on average."

For more than a decade Swaziland's national herd has stagnated at about 640,000, or two cows for every three people. The cattle mortality rate, which was below four percent in 2005, is now at 10 percent as a consequence of poor rainfall and drought that has exposed poor agricultural practices. "When we are talking about animal mortality, we are essentially talking about calf mortality - mothers are malnourished because of poor grazing land. Swaziland needs a breeding policy," Dlamini said. The department's goal is to produce a healthy national herd and ensure that annual breeding occurs. "It would stop overgrazing, and direct which breeds we should raise. Nguni cattle have been shown to do well in this country and a breeding policy would encourage this, instead of farmers buying any cow they seem to like," Dlamini commented.

"Grazing on public land will continue, but there needs to be an integration of farming and cattle-raising, so cattle can feed on each season's crop residue, like maize stalks," said Dlamini.

The government provides free veterinary medicines at 519 public dipping tanks, but its most popular service is the eight public feedlots operated in conjunction with SMI, which also provides technical and financial support. "The feedlots are the answer to making the national herd viable once more. The animals will be healthier and more market-ready," said Dlamini.

Current cattle-raising practices are taking their toll on the environment, with widespread overgrazing of ever-decreasing pasturage causing soil erosion and the marginalisation of formerly productive land, the desertification of formerly marginal land, and the silt pollution of streams that are the principal sources of water for households and irrigation in rural areas.

Part of the challenge is changing agricultural practices like routinely burning vegetation each winter, resulting in choking smoke for two months of the year and making Swaziland, with its negligible industrial base, a contributor of greenhouse gases, the effect of which is thought to compromise rainfall locally.

Alternative methods of farming cattle are being investigated, including the greater use of an indigenous Swazi plant. "The leucaena bush [Leucaena leucocephala] is drought resistant; it doesn't like cold, but it thrives in the many areas where there is little rainfall. Planting it on hillsides, in river beds and water catchment areas would stop erosion, and the cattle would get the protein they need," Williams said.

Complicating Swaziland's bid to try using the EU's trade concessions to fight poverty by earning foreign currency is the reluctance to sell cattle for cultural or sentimental reasons.

Timothy Masuku, who owns a dozen head of cattle 20km from Manzini, Swaziland's commercial centre, said, "I need my cattle for cultural purposes. They are for my sons to give to their brides' families, and other purposes. It is not like I can sell them any time." Masuku, like his ancestors, sees his herd as a savings account, rather than as the basis for acquiring cash to save or buy goods. "Besides, you don't know what tomorrow brings. If my family must move, we can take our cattle with us," Masuku said. Swaziland's system of plot tenure on communal land makes residents extremely vulnerable to the whims of chiefs, who can evict residents at a moment's notice, without legal recourse, even though families may have lived on the same plot of land for generations. Banning political parties in Swaziland has not dampened growing support for a democratic system akin to its neighbours, Mozambique and South Africa. Most chiefs are resisting a change in the status quo, leading to some to reportedly threatening their subjects that any political activity would lead to their eviction. In such circumstances cattle represent tremendous security as mobile assets in an emergency.

IRIN

FAO to assist Swazi farmers to buy seed

Subsistence farmers in Swaziland will get help from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to buy seeds as rising prices put agricultural inputs beyond the reach of many.

Speaking at a school-based farm project outside the capital Mbabane, UN FAO director-General Jacques Diouf said the agency would give farmers vouchers to buy seeds from local producers to ensure they grow food, a UN press release said. The UN said the rising cost of staple foods such as rice, maize meal and fuel in recent months was hampering farmers' ability to buy seeds and fertilizer, jeopardizing their livelihoods and food supply.

Most of Swaziland's around 1 million people live off the land on less than a dollar a day.

Rising prices have compounded food insecurity in the country that is regularly beset by drought and where able-bodied workers are being lost in droves to HIV/AIDS.

Swaziland is one of a number of countries where the UN is trying to mitigate the effect of rising food prices.

Seed vouchers were already used during the severe drought of 2006- 07.

'We must work together to produce more food where it is urgently needed to contain the impact of soaring prices on poor consumers,' Diouf said.

Over 8 million people in seven southern African countries - Swaziland, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe - are expected to face food insecurity between now and March 2009 and require some kind of assistance.

Food insecurity was a key factor behind recent protests in Swaziland over King Mswati III's lavish birthday independence celebrations.

Many Swazis said the millions of dollars spent on the party held on September 6 would have been better spent on food or medication for HIV patients.

The Citizen

Swaziland struggles to feed itself

What happens to a nation whose people depend on the largesse of international donor agencies for their existence, once support is withdrawn?

If forecasts for the small landlocked African nation of Swaziland are an indication, the granting of temporary relief may be followed by a new humanitarian emergency.

"The poverty solution we’ve heard about for so many years has been sustainable development: give people the tools they need to continue producing without outside assistance," said Titus Mahlalela, a food aid distributor working with the international NGO World Vision. World Vision distributes some of the food aid brought in by the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) to local communities; at present, this aid keeps a record 600,000 Swazis alive -- more than 60 percent of the population.

Mahlalela's view is that the International community is willing to help alleviate Immediate emergencies, but is less attracted to long-term commitments required for lasting solutions. An initiative of another UN agency, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), illustrates what happens when assistance that might help farmers achieve sustainable food production is prematurely withdrawn.

A rise in food production last year is likely to be reversed this year, FAO officials say, as farmers who received assistance have nowhere else to turn. Ploughing season is only weeks away.

"They gave me what I needed to farm last year. Seeds and fertiliser. We don’t know if we will receive these this year. I for one don’t know what I will do without these things," said Amos Nhlabela, a 45 year-old small farmer in Mlimba, a hamlet 50 km north of the central commercial hub Manzini.

Recent efforts to boost crop production were based not on achieving sustainability but were instead focused on alleviating crop losses due to drought. A false assumption was made: once rains returned, so would crop yields. In fact, lack of rainfall was only one obstacle to achieving sustained food production in Swaziland, where eight out of ten people depend on subsistence farming for survival.

For generations, Swazis accepted a cycle of bounty and famine that characterised traditional farming, which is dependent on sun and rain and manure from the oxen that plough the fields. When Swaziland gained its independence 40 years ago, it routinely recorded food surpluses because a population one third smaller than it is today did not consume as much from available land.

"Three things happened in the intervening decades," noted Carl Dlamini, an agriculture field officer in the central Manzini Region. "The population grew but there wasn’t enough farmland, so new generations moved onto marginal land that could barely produce.

"Secondly, climate change brought droughts that made formerly good land only marginally productive and marginal land completely incapable of producing crops. For the last 15 years much of the eastern Lubombo region has been droughty.

"The third factor cutting into agriculture production has been AIDS."

A concentrated and substantial amount of aid last year proved beneficial. In 2007, food production was down by 80 percent in some areas, and all parts of the country saw crop losses due to hot and dry weather. An emergency relief call from UN agencies brought a response that financed partial recovery.

WFP provided food aid, and the FAO funded purchases of farm inputs – seeds, fertilizer, tractors – required for individual farm production. A WFP/FAO crop assessment team found that agricultural output in 2008 agriculture output was twice 2007 levels, though still below that of the previous four years.

Ironically, the success of last year’s emergency relief resulted in the end of the government-declared national food emergency. Last year’s FAO budget of US $3 million has been slashed to $500,000.

For the coming planting season, which is imminent in some parts of the country as spring rains begin falling, only one out of six farmers who received inputs from FAO last year will receive them this year. The impoverished country’s treasury has no funds to make up the shortfall.

"We had a good response to the donor appeal last year. But the drought emergency is over," said Tamie Dlamini, Programme Director of FAO’s Swaziland operations. "We will have another shortfall in food production this year, not from drought but from farmers not planting because they cannot afford inputs."

Less than 60 percent of Swaziland's arable land is under cultivation, partly due to AIDS decimating the agricultural work force. This year, input costs will be another important limit on agricultural production. Fertiliser costs are expected to be up 200 percent over last year come the height of the planting season in November.

Rising fuel prices are reflected in the higher cost of private tractor rental. The Ministry of Agriculture has too few tractors, and waits have caused some farmers to plant late.

"I cannot afford fertiliser. I cannot afford seeds. I cannot afford to rent a tractor. I can borrow my cousin’s oxen to plough, but he also has no seeds or fertiliser," said another farmer, Sonny Dube, Amos Nhlabela’s neighbour.

"Why is money available for emergency relief, but not for making farming affordable? Why are there too few tractors? Where is the funding for a self-replenishing seed bank that farmers can draw from?" asked Connie Hlope, one of the few women agricultural field officers in the country. Her job is to advise farmers on planting schedules and tractor hire.

"You hear why farming hasn’t been ‘sustainable.’ People blame donor dependency. You hear that people refuse to plough because they get food from the WFP. But I’ve never been able to substantiate that. It’s a myth," Hlope said.

An interview with a rural resident confirmed this. Amanda Mavuso, a widow and mother of five who manages to cultivate a two-acre field in central Swaziland said, "The food we grow is good. We enjoy it. The food from overseas is not quite right. It tastes different. No one around here prefers donor food."

If she and her family do end up accepting donor food, it will be because she is unable to do the work of running a farm by herself. She has no money for inputs and depends on the assistance of neighbouring families to do the hard tasks of ploughing, weeding and harvesting.

Until programmes are devised to meet the fundamental needs of small-scale agriculture that feed a majority of Swazis and which once produced a national surplus of agricultural production, "sustainability" will remain more of a developmental cliché than an achievable reality in the lives of small farmers.

IPS

Dam construction project in Swaziland to increase irrigable land

A project to build three dams in Swaziland will result in about 6,500 heactares of irrigable land. The Lower Usuthu Smallholder Irrigation Project (LUSIP) is a poverty alleviation initiative implemented under the supervision of the Swaziland Water and Development Enterprise (SWADE).

The project is funded by a consortium that includes the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), European Union (EU), European Investment Bank (EIB), Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), African Development Bank (ADB), Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), International Development and Cooperation Fund (ICDF) and the government of Swaziland.

Involved in the project is the construction of dams on the Mhlatuzane and Golome Rrivers. Saddle Dam will form an off-river reservoir to store water diverted from wet season flood flows in the Usuthu River.

During the first eight years, the project will construct the dams and a distribution system from the dams, together with on-farm works, to irrigate a net irrigable area of approximately 6 500 hectares.

After completion of the first phase, government intends to expand the project into a second phase, during which the water delivery system shall be extended and an area of further approximately 5 000 hectares shall be developed.

The goals of the project include the reduction of poverty and sustained improvement in the standard of living of the population in the project area through commercialization and intensification of agriculture. The two key stated purposes of the project are the integration of smallholder farmers into the commercial economy through the provision of irrigation infrastructure, development of the policy and legal framework for smallholder irrigation as well as the establishment of farmer-managed irrigation institutions.

The other purpose is sustainable improvement in environmental health in the project area to ensure that the population derives the full benefits of agricultural commercialisation.

SWADE says that the LUSIP project has the following outputs with a completion date of 31 March 2012 and a closing date of 30 September 2012:

* Infrastructure with ability to impound, store and distribute 155 million cubic metres of water per annum;

* farmer managed institutions, household members with access to about 2.5-3.5 hectares of farm land, develop 6 500 hectares net of intensive, commercial and irrigated agriculture;

* all households in the project area have access to potable water and sanitation facilities and all negative impacts of the project are mitigated (as an example, a total of 186 homesteads will be affected by the construction of the project's bulk infrastructure. Of these homesteads, 120 will be displaced and therefore require resettlement).

Swazi Observer

Rising inputs prices hurt Swazi maize farmers

Swazi farmers are still failing to meet the maize quota required by the National Maize Corporation (NMC) to sustain local markets.

NMC Technical Manager Sipho Dlamini said farmers were currently able to produce about 8 000 tonnes of maize and yet the corporation needs over 40 000 tonnes of maize per year to sustain local markets. He observed that the current shortfall in maize production emanates from the ever increasing farm input prices, with both smallholder and commercial farmers being unable to bear the brunt.

“The sudden increase in farm input prices has really devastated our local farmers as they can no longer afford to produce maize in the manner they did before. The ever escalating farm input prices coupled with the ravaging drought have proven to be major challenges for maize farmers and contingency plans have to be devised to deal with such issues,” he said.

The erratic rainfalls currently experienced in the country have also immensely contributed to the ever dwindling local maize production in the country.

Dlamini said the effect of all this was that the country was now forced to import over 70% of all the required maize from South Africa. This also means that local consumers suffer a double blow as maize prices were projected to double as a result of the ever escalating food and commodity prices.

The technical manager said despite the evident hardships faced by local farmers, the corporation’s crusade of encouraging local farmers to increase supply of maize still continues. He said this was because local farmers have the potential to outdo their South African counterparts in terms of maize supply.

“The corporation is a readily available market for maize farmers, unlike with other crops where the markets are there, but their certainty is unpredictable,” he said. Dlamini observed that local farmers do indeed exude the motivation and skills to reach the target quota, but as it stands they did not have the means to do so.

A prolonged dry spell and high temperatures ravaged Swaziland’s maize crop in recent years, resulting in the lowest annual harvest on record, worsening the chronic food insecurity in the country. The chronic food insecurity persists throughout the country owing to declining income-earning opportunities and remittances, high levels of unemployment and the impact of HIV and AIDS.

The country requires international assistance to feed approximately 25% of its most vulnerable people, including orphans, child-headed households, households affected by HIV and AIDS as well as tuberculosis and children needing school feeding. Maize production in Swaziland has been on a steady decline for the past decade. Until 2000, Swaziland was in a normal agricultural season harvesting more than 100 000 tonnes of maize.

However, erratic weather, the devastating impact of HIV and AIDS as well as a decline in the use of improved agricultural practices and inputs were among the factors contributing to this decline.

Swazi Observer

Swaziland urged to respect traditional farming methods

There is a general feeling that local farmers need to go back to traditional methods of farming so as to increase production and avoid some of the challenges brought about by some modern methods of land cultivation.

Participants at the Food Crisis Dialogue suggested that the country (Swaziland) needs to promote indigenous methods of farming instead of the ‘Western’ ones, most of which are chemically based.

“We’re at a crisis point, at war with high price of food and at war with food security,” said UNISWA agronomy lecturer Professor O.T Edje, adding “and since we’re at war with fertilisers too, let’s find a substitute. Let’s go back to basics.

"What happened to the earlier methods of growing crops?” He said Africans did not want to hear about organic farming, for instance, because they think its primitive, whereas when they travel to Europe or elsewhere overseas, they’re the first to want organic products.

“Traditionally, we were the organic farmers and this is one possibility of addressing the fertiliser issue. "Organic fertilisers have proven to be very effective and a good substitute for the chemical fertilisers that have become too expensive,” he pointed out.

The professor said water harvesting was also one other possible solution to some of the challenges faced by the agricultural sector. He noted that the country needs to promote irrigation systems for maize like it does for sugar cane. “It’s high time we go back to the use of water harvesting,” he said.

He said the maize Swaziland recently received from Malawi had all been produced through the use of traditional as well as horse-drawn hoes for land cultivation.

Professor Edje also said Swaziland needs to go back to its coping strategies and reduce its reliance on tractors and instead, go back to the use of oxen for cultivation. He said the country appears to be too reliant on tractors, which were expensive to maintain.

World Vision Ministry Quality Director Russell Dlamini added that Africans had degenerated from its indigenous farming practices and adopted Western systems which were proving to be too costly. He said for example, the use of hybrid seeds and fertilisers was not only environmentally unfriendly, but also costly to maintain. However, he pointed out that despite this, these chemical farming methods were still being promoted among farmers.

“We need to start promoting indigenous farming practices and even include them in our curriculum,” he recommended. “Government must begin to subsidise production rather than consumption so as to promote food production.”

Thami Dlamini from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) added that even though the need to increase local production was great, government also needs to look into minimising post harvest losses incurred by farmers.

He said farmers lose about 50 percent of their yield between the field and market. “We need to facilitate post harvest and storage training for our farmers as these losses are substantial. Moreover, soil fertility has declined, which raises the need to put in more fertiliser.”

Dlamini pointed out that certain organisations were looking into conservation agriculture and permaculture, which could improve the output margin and subsequently, the prices of products as costs would be minimal, adding that there was need to follow these studies up.

The Swazi Observer

Project targets small scale farmers for multiplication of improved seed maize

Victor Mulongo Mukalay, a former member of parliament, is now emerging as a small-scale maize seed entrepreneur in his home region of Lubumbashi, in Katanga province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

In a province with nearly 750,000 households of small-scale farmers planting an average of 530,000 hectares of maize, it is unusual that there is no commercial seed company.

Mukalay is working with his neighbors on three hectares of land to produce maize seed to fill this gap, and is planning to acquire a maize seed processing machine to enable him to expand the scale of his operations. "Although this is our first season, I’m very optimistic we’ll meet our target of producing enough good seed for 300 farm households,” he says.“I’d like to contribute in my small way to increasing the availability of quality seed of improved maize varieties for small-scale farmers.”

Mukalay and his neighbors are multiplying breeders’ seed they receive through CIMMYT’s New Seed Initiative for Maize in Southern Africa (NSIMA).

They are using the open-pollinated varities ZM623 and ZM721—developed by CIMMYT in Zimbabwe but showing good adaptability in the DRC.Variety ZM623, developed through CIMMYT research on drought tolerant maize for sub-Saharan Africa, is particularly popular with farmers, who like its intermediate maturity, disease resistance, and grain type.

“We’re encouraged by this interest from community-based seed producers who are investing their own resources in maize seed multiplication,” says John MacRobert, CIMMYT Zimbabwe seed specialist and NSIMA coordinator. “This will surely increase the availability of improved varieties to small-scale growers.”

Two years ago, a cooperative project between World Vision International (WVI), Swaziland’s national research and extension system, and CIMMYT began working with a farmers’ group in rural Swaziland, providing technical and financial support for community-based seed production.

Today, 86 farmers are proud owners of Lesibovu Community Company, involved in the seed production and marketing of the popular, drought tolerant variety ZM521.This season they will start producing and marketing certified seed of the newly released variety ZM611.

“The training we received from CIMMYT in seed production, certification, and marketing aspects was very useful in helping us scale up our production from just 25 kilos to approximately 41,000 kilos of seed annually,” says John Mamba, the group’s chairman. “We now feel empowered to produce good quality seed.” The company has purchased a simple seed packaging machine and developed its own packaging label.

“It was necessary to build the group’s capacity in producing open-pollinated varieties and hybrids, seed inspection procedures, and maize seed standards,” says Peter Setimela, CIMMYT maize breeder. “This was the only way of ensuring that they supply high-quality seed and of making them competitive in the market.”

The South African government, through the Limpopo Province Department of Agriculture, is also supporting similar initiatives. Although they began just eight years ago, they have taken root and today are supplying as much as 5,000 kilograms of improved maize seed to hundreds of small-scale farmers who previously had little access to improved maize varieties. The bigger seed companies did not consider it good business sense to supply thousands of widely-dispersed, small-scale farmers.

Through strategies such as marketing the seed in smaller, more affordable packets and working with rural traders, the schemes have increased access to and uptake of varieties such as ZM421 and ZM521. Farmers prefer ZM421, another variety from CIMMYT’s work, because of its comparatively stable yield, drought tolerance, and early maturity. The latter was especially attractive, because it eases the burden of guarding the crop from marauding baboons, a major menace.

Farmers have also found ZM521 to be high-yielding and early-maturing, with good milling properties.

The South African National Seed Organization (SANSOR) has been involved in the certification of seed from the small-scale production schemes since 2002. SANSOR works closely with farmer producers to ensure their seed is of the required quality.

Producers must register seed plots within 28 days after sowing, have plots inspected at different plant growth stages, and present seed samples for certification.

Being in close contact with farmers makes it easier to include their feedback in varietal improvement research or in key aspects of seed production, meaning for example that the varieties developed can be better suited to farmers' cropping settings.

Maize is a major food staple not just in South Africa but in most of sub-Saharan Africa. Through NSIMA, the South African government is investing in training and extending financial and material assistance to community-based seed producers.

This in turn helps ensure small-scale farmers access to affordable, quality seed of improved maize varieties, enhancing their food security and incomes.

Africa Science News Service

More Swazis dependent on food aid

A substantial increase in the number of Swazis requiring food aid has raised some questions in this Southern African country. Why the rise, and how long are the higher numbers likely to prevail? More fundamentally, what has caused such widespread and enduring hunger to begin with?

"We need to dig deeper for answers, particularly when we hear donor fatigue may cut into the emergency contributions that are now keeping Swazis alive," says Charles Dlamini, a food-aid distribution manager in the central Manzini region.

In his annual budget speech, delivered to Parliament recently, Finance Minister Majozi Sithole noted that 665 000 Swazis out of a total population of 953 000 now require food assistance.

Only a few months ago, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) had projected that 407 000 people would need food aid by this time. Rains since the start of the planting season in November had even raised hopes of fewer dependants.

In interviews with government and humanitarian officials, and with persons on small farms and in urban settlements affected by food shortages, there emerges a variety of explanations for the current situation.

"I have been urging for months that people take advantage of the rains and plant crops like in other years. The back of last year's drought has been broken. But some people are wary of planting; they remember how the rains stopped falling in the past and all their work went for nothing," says Ben Nsibandze, chairperson of the national emergency management committee.

Last year's drought was historic: up to 80% of crops failed in formerly productive areas, while harvests were absent in hardest-hit regions. The international community stepped in to assist.

"Unfortunately, the lesson learned by some people is that they don't have to worry if they have no crops. They will be given food. They will be provided for. This laziness has led to dependency, and it is why many fields were not ploughed this year," says Dlamini.

Fears about a culture of dependency have also been voiced by others. Nsibandze has warned against it, as has legislator Trusty Gina. "The dependency syndrome is killing the nation," he told Parliament recently.

About 80% of Swazis live as subsistence farmers on land overseen by chiefs, existing much as generations of their ancestors did. When rains cease, people require food aid to avoid starvation.

"Government hoped that rural men working for the agricultural plantations could support their families on their wages," says an economist with a bank in the capital, Mbabane, in reference to estates where export crops such as sugar cane and citrus are grown. "But wages are low, and inflation is high."

The Ministry of Agriculture mounted an agriculture summit last August to seek answers to Swaziland's perennial food-shortage problems. In addition to the government, the private sector, UN groups and farmers participated. But to date no report of the summit's outcome has been released, and no suggestions offered on how to return Swaziland to the position it occupied in the 1970s of being a net food exporter.

Aids is another contributing factor to the dearth of food in this country; at 33,4%, the country's adult HIV prevalence rate is the highest in the world.

"There are no able-bodied people to tend the farms; the surviving elderly people and children can't do it," says Nonhlanhla Simelane, an HIV counsellor in Mbabane. "Wage earners in town used to come back to the farm to tend the crops, but we see less of that because Aids mortality is as high in urban areas as in the countryside."

Aids groups see the nation's food shortage very much as a health issue, and they doubt that production will return to normal before the pandemic has been brought under control.

Greed may also be playing a role. According to Sipho Shongwe, Minister of Regional Development and Youth Affairs, the numbers of people in need of food aid have been inflated by local authorities seeking to sell supplies for cash. Similarly, school principals are accused of trying to profit from aid claimed for Aids orphans.

"One wonders what lessons on morality our children will learn from principals who are guilty of deliberately increasing the number of orphans in their schools," says Shongwe. Himself a Swazi chief, he also accuses other chiefs of fraud in connection with food aid.

Yet, there are no hard figures showing the extent of the alleged misappropriation, and food aid organisations doubt this appreciably raises the total of aid recipients.

"I don't think that cheating is raising the overall number of recipients that much. They say officials want to sell the food. Sell to whom? Sixty percent of the local population lives in absolute poverty, and part of the food crisis is [that] they cannot purchase basic foodstuffs," says a programme officer with a UN agency.

The WFP office in Mbabane says that its food-distribution system is based on information from local community committees that canvas homes to establish need. The same holds true for children's care points in urban and rural areas, where local committees send orphans and vulnerable children for hot meals provided by WFP contributors, primarily the United States.

What, then, will it take for Swaziland to cease being a country in perpetual want?

"I think most importantly we need the political will to find solutions. I think the national leadership has become comfortable with food dependency as well," says Dlamini. "As long as the international community is giving, why bother?"

Even with much of the nation requiring food aid, "leadership doesn't act like it is a crisis ... I think that is why the emergency agriculture summit never amounted to anything."

IPS

Swazi king to launch jatropha biodiesel project

On March 14 His Majesty King Mswati III will officially open the Hluti Model Farm Jatropha project, marking the formal launch of government's endorsement of the biodiesel oil projects being undertaken by D1 Oils Swaziland.

D1 Oils Swaziland is a D1-BP Fuel Crops and Ning Group joint venture, which is a locally registered biodiesel feedstock company that is committed to developing the bio-fuels industry in Swaziland.

However, a lot of questions have been raised on the sustainability of Jatropha as an alternative energy source for the Swazi people. Fears of the toxity of the Jatropha plant on local soils, livestock and human beings have been raised by various pressure groups.

The big question has been, "Does Swaziland really need a jatropha project right now at the expense of land for food and if so, will it be successful?"

A case study relevant to Swaziland is that of Zimbabwe where the government has taken a deliberate move to promote the production of Jatropha as an alternative energy source.

The Zimbabwe government has set aside 40 000 hectares of land for jatropha production and to date 10 000 hectares have been planted. The Zimbabwe government has also set a target of at least 10 percent fuel import substitution by 2010.

With the local price of petrol having gone up by 70 cents at midnight, a sustainable alternative energy source is then worth considering. However, at the same time there is also need for a clear national policy on bio-fuels coupled by extensive research to expedite its quest of mitigating the fuel import bill.

It has become accepted in the world of economics that the major inflation driver in African economies is fuel. Any increase in the price of fuel has a domino effect on the price of basic goods and services, thereby creating inflationary pressures on the economy.

Swazi Observer

Persistent droughts plague Swaziland

Climate change appears to have permanently altered certain areas of east and southern Swaziland, where good harvests have not been achieved for over a decade. Agriculture officials and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) now question whether these areas can still support communities.

"Before donor fatigue sets in, we have no choice but to confront the obvious. Otherwise we will be accused of turning a blind eye," said Charles Ndwandwe, an agriculture extension officer in the eastern Lubombo region, which has never fully recovered from a drought that devastated the country in 1992.

Climate conditions have also been difficult over recent months. Summer rains failed to materialise in Lavumisa, in the eastern Lubombo. This has taken a severe toll on harvests of maize, the staple food of Swaziland. Maize that was planted in the spring months of November and December is now largely desiccated due to lack of rainfall (the last measurable rains in the region are said to have fallen on Dec. 27).

To make matters worse, a heat wave struck Lubombo last month. Such difficulties, coupled with the country's small population and the availability of other land, have prompted suggestions that Swazis might be relocated in response to persistent drought.

"There are unused government farms in agriculturally viable parts of the country. Why not relocate families who cannot scratch out an existence in Lavumisa and depend on food aid year after year? Food aid should not be a lifestyle. People become dependent," said Walker Nkambule, a businessman from Manzini, the commercial hub of the country.

Currently there are state farms lying idle that government economic planners intend incorporating into large-scale agriculture projects when funding becomes available. They reject proposals to convert the land into small subsistence farms, claiming this would not be economically viable.

"Subsistence farming is very traditional but it only supplements family income from other sources. Nobody can live on it anymore," said Ndwandwe.

At present, 80 percent of the population resides on small farms located on communal land that is overseen by chiefs. Government would like to see farmers combine their fields into larger co-operative ventures.

Christopher Fakudze, an economist who works with the Ministry of Natural Resources to develop water needs projections and water resource management, disagrees with the proposal to abandon drought prone areas. "Swaziland is geographically a small place, and there is no reason why we cannot pipe water to where it is needed."

The large scale projects required to pipe in water would be very expensive, however.

Amidst widespread poverty, few people can afford to move away from inhospitable land of their own accord. According to the 2007/2008 United Nations Human Development Report, 47.7 percent of people in Swaziland live on less than a dollar a day -- and 77.8 percent on less than two dollars a day.

Poverty and climatic hardship elicit a stoic response from many Swazis.

"There is a reason that Swaziland is a stable country despite its humanitarian crisis. The people are conservative. They prefer hardship to the unknown that change brings," said a political scientist at the University of Swaziland.

"This is why people stay in those dusty lifeless areas, and why government policy has been for poverty alleviation where people live, rather than relocation."

IPS