By KWANELE DHLADHLA | 2020-11-01
Mafutseni Inkhundla farmers have utilised lockdown regulations to come up with innovative measures to turn their fortunes around while the world grapples with effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dumsile Dlamini disclosed that having a capacity building workshop through the support of Eastern and Southern African Farmers Forum (ESAFF) Eswatini chapter had been highly beneficial. She stated that they have established a sweet potatoes nursery, which came with a lot of challenges as they could not get a government tractor from the Luve Rural Development Area (RDA). They had been promised a government tractor that would plough and do ridges.
Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Bongani Masuku expressed shock when he was told that farmers were not happy with the treatment they received at the government facility.
“The ministry was not aware of your concerns, I would like to urge them to notify the regional office if they were not getting a satisfactory answer from the RDA. The ministry uses an open door policy, farmers should report their concerns and we will gladly assist them,” Masuku was quoted to have said by a local magazine.
Dlamini said following their capacity building workshop that was held in June, they have made great strides because they have been able to lobby their inkundla so that the government could abide by the Maputo Declaration where it was agreed by African Heads of State that states should allocate 10 per cent of national budgets to agriculture.
Promised
She alleged that the officer they spoke to at the RDA had promised to send a team in a period of two weeks to check the state of the dams, but that has been months ago.
Speaking during the workshop, ESAFF Coordinator Maswati Dludlu stressed on the importance of making sure that farmers take interest in projects that government brings closer to them.
Delegates were also told about the importance of ensuring that agriculture committees were part of chiefdoms development plans, since the agricultural sector has massive potential to ensure the country's economy flourishes.
The workshop was also attended by Mafutseni Indvuna yeNkhundla Mduduzi Vilakati. He praised ESAFF for bringing the service to their constituency and assured farmers that his office was willing to assist them at the Inkhundla centre.
The farmers have planted jugo beans, soya beans and sweet potatoes.
"Following the outbreak of the coronavirus, farmers are the only group that can put sky rocketing food prices under control, it will in turn help you as Mafutseni farmers to create a stable source of income, despite the hardships brought about by the pandemic," he added.
The sensitisation workshop was one of the pillars of the African Union (AU) concept that was adopted by African Heads of State, where they unanimously agreed that all African states should pump in more resources to the agricultural sector, mainly made of small-holder farmers through the Public Expenditure Tracking Survey, popularly known as PETS.
The main aim of PETS was to allow smallholder farmers to fully understand how their governments were going to meet basic needs of smallholder farmers. These were in line with the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP), it culminated into the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods of June 2014.
It should be noted that ESAFF is found in 17 states in the Eastern Southern African regions, it started operating in the kingdom in 2017.
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