DEVELOPMENT-SWAZILAND: Drought Shows Weaknesses in Traditional Farming

By James Hall Reprint | | Print |

James Hall

MBABANE, Jan 5 2004 (IPS) - Government officials in Swaziland have taken to calling the current drought in the kingdom “the worst in recorded history”. But for Amos Mhlanga, a subsistence farmer near the southern border town of LaVumisa, the latest weather pattern is sadly familiar.

“We have not had good rains here since the 1980’s. Maybe the climate is changing, but we are now accustomed to surviving on food aid,” Mhlanga said.

With steadfast determination, he planted a field of maize – the staple food of Swazis – after the first spring rains last November, hopeful that more rains would follow. Seeds for pumpkin vines and peanut plants were also sown.

None of the plants survived beyond an initial sprouting in December. “The climate is no good for a farmer here. But where are we to go?” Mhlanga asked.

Under Swaziland’s “kukhonta” system, any Swazi male who pledges allegiance to one of 300 palace-appointed chiefs should receive a parcel of land to cultivate, another where he can build a house for his family, and free grazing land and veterinary services for his cattle.

But the country also has one of the world’s highest population growth rates, at 2.9 percent (the rate would be 3.7 percent were it not for the deaths caused by AIDS). New land in chiefdoms is now unavailable, and existing family farms are divided between sons when the time comes for them to raise families.

About 80 percent of Swazis live on communal land, under chiefs. Because residents do not own title deed to their land, banks are unwilling to issue loans that would enable farmers to buy irrigation equipment.

As a result, crops are dependant on rainfall. When the rains cease, harvests are lost.

The United Nations World Food Programme projects a fifth year of declining harvests for 2003-04. At least a quarter of the Swazi population will be dependant on food aid by the end of this month.

“We get aid parcels from the International Red Cross, and bulk food from America,” Mhlanga reported. In fact, the “bulk food” comes from the WFP.

However, certain government officials blame subsistence farmers for their plight.

“Swazis are conservative. They just want to grow maize, and if there is drought they know they will receive food aid. This has led to a culture of dependency,” says Sipho Dlamini, a field official in the Ministry of Agriculture.

“But what happens if the food aid they take for granted dries up? Swazis must become self-sufficient in food,” he adds.

Dlamini’s job is to teach farmers scientific techniques to maximize crop yields, in the hope that they will move from subsistence to commercial production.

“Cotton and cassava are two crops that grow in drier conditions. We have been pushing these for some time. But there is reluctance. Farmers say, ‘We can’t eat cotton, and we don’t want to east cassava’,” Dlamini noted.

Mhlanga said he was uncertain of the cotton market: “There has to be a system to buy my cotton, and I haven’t seen it in my area. Transportation costs are too expensive from here to the cotton mills in Matsapha (about 120 km from his home).”

“Right now I don’t feel like a man because I am unproductive. Every day I’m doing nothing but watching the wind blow the dust over the fields.”

Dlamini maintains that there is more support offered to farmers than Mhlanga’s words suggest. “The agriculture ministry helps small landholder farmers find markets for their production,” he told IPS. “He (Mhlanga) can sell his crop for cash to purchase food, pay his children’s school fees and buy household necessities.”

The National Weather Service cannot predict how long the drought will continue. In September, the service made its forecast for the summer, and predicted average rainfall.

A spell of unusually hot weather last week, combined with flash floods and hailstorms over the weekend, destroyed budding crops in parts of central Swaziland. Damage assessments to be made this week will determine how many additional Swazis will require food assistance.