Smallholder Agricultural Development Project

Smallholder Agricultural Development Project

Swazi Nation Land includes 60 per cent of the country and is home to 70 per cent of the Swazi population. This project was implemented in the Lowveld and the driest parts of the middle and Highveld within Swazi Nation Land. It targeted the poorest families in the area, including labourers, farmers with very small landholdings, and people who do not benefit from remittances, especially widows and single mothers.

The project addressed the pressing need to create employment opportunities for Swaziland’s growing number of young people, building on what was achieved in the previous project. It set out to boost smallholder productivity and improve incomes and family food security, particularly for households headed by women. The project also worked to ensure the protection of the resource base, particularly in rangeland areas. Specific objectives were to:

• strengthen technical institutions, including research and animal health services, and ensure their support of smallholder farmers
• promote livestock production and marketing to reduce overstocking on communal rangelands
• involve rural communities in all aspects of project implementation
• increase crop and livestock production through development of new technologies and small-scale irrigation, and promotion of drought-resistant crops such as sorghum, cowpeas and groundnuts
• provide credit for small farmers
  establish early warning and contingency planning systems for drought

Source: IFAD