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POVERTY-SWAZILAND: Planning Oversight Halts Food Security Programme

Mantoe Phakathi

MBABANE, Jul 23 2009 (IPS) - A Food-for-Work programme, which cleverly aims to combat both environmental degradation and food shortages, has come to a halt due to lack of long-term planning.

For the past few months, members of the Malindza community, a poverty-stricken area in the south of Swaziland, have built dams and anti-erosion structures, such as wire mesh boxes, barriers, trenches and fencing in exchange for food. In addition, programme participants are in the process of setting up food gardens to grow food for themselves as well as for sale in nearby markets.

Until recently, each worker was given 40 kilogrammes of maize meal, six kg of beans and 2.5 kg of cooking oil for in exchange for 20 days of labour each month. The elderly, sick and child-headed households received similar rations for free, since they are unable to work. But last month, the food aid came to a halt.

The project was initiated by the Swazi Department of Land Development in collaboration with the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP), which supplies the food aid, and non-governmental organisation (NGO) Conserve Swaziland, which provides environmental expertise. In addition, international NGO WorldVision is providing technical skills.

But when WFP food aid ran out after the agreed upon period of four months, the gardens were not yet producing food to feed workers, much less generate income for themselves by selling off surplus harvest. As a result, workers have been labouring for nothing over the past few weeks, or dropped out of the programme entirely.

Josephine Maziya is one of the food aid beneficiaries who works four hours each day to conserve land damaged by deforestation and overgrazing. “We gather the stones from the mountain and use them to fill in the dongas (ravines) valley to prevent further damage to the soil by the rain,” she explained.

She and others have already completed the construction of a dam which will be used to harvest rainwater to irrigate community gardens. There is no running water in Malindza, and persistent drought has caused widespread poverty, hunger and malnourishment in the area.

Most inhabitants of Malindza have placed all their hopes into the Food-for-Work programme, expecting it to provide them with the means to irrigate their fields and fight the unrelenting drought.

“We’re just waiting for the rain so that we can start cultivating vegetables which will also be sold to neighbouring communities,” Maziya told IPS. “For years, we’ve been ravaged by hunger because we could not harvest the rainwater to be used for irrigation.”

WFP programme officer Thami Dlamini said food distribution had been suspended because the UN agency had committed itself to donating food for a limited period of four months. He promised, however, that WFP is in the process of reviewing the project: “There are negotiations to get WFP to donate more food.”

Dlamini also pointed out that miscalculation has not occurred only on the side of WFP. He said successful execution of the project has also been challenged by the fact that the Department of Land Development had delayed the delivery of fencing material and hence delayed the construction process of the dam and anti-erosion structures.

The Food-For-Work programme was a pilot project, Dlamini explained, and planning hiccups were to be expected. “Malindza is the first community to implement the Food-For-Work programme in the country,” he said.

He was optimistic that the programme would be back on track soon, and hinted that there are plans to roll it out throughout all drought-stricken areas in the country.

But for now, it is the 10,000 inhabitants of Malindza who get the short end of the stick. They remain in extreme poverty, perpetuated by prolonged drought since 1992 and high rates of unemployment.

Conserve Swaziland director Msutfu Fakudze highlighted the fact that the programme is aimed at restoring the dignity of the poor.

“There is the perception in the country that people who receive food rations are lazy to look for gainful employment, yet these people are victims of social ills, such as poverty, drought and HIV/AIDS,” he explained.

According to Fakudze, 2,000 families in Malindza have been part of the Food-For-Work programme. “We urgently need to establish community gardens because WFP donates the food rations for a certain period only,” he said, speaking about the long-term strategy behind the programme.

“For the community to realise food security, the people need to grow their own food.”