High Value Crop and Horticulture Project (HVCHP)
September 23, 2024
Lower Usuthu Smallholder Irrigation Project – Phase I (LUSIP I)
September 23, 2024
The Smallholder Market-Led Project (SMLP) is a six- year project funded by The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the Government of Eswatini. The project development objective is to enhance food and nutrition security and incomes among smallholder producer families through diversified agricultural production and market linkages and the goal is to contribute to national poverty reduction. The project started implementation in 2016 and will come to a project end in 2022. The project is implemented according to three focus areas and they are:
Chiefdom Development Planning
Working in close collaboration with the Ministry of Tinkhundla, Administration and Development, the project supports participatory planning in the Chiefdoms whereby decision making on socio-economic development activities is informed by consultation with concerned households and communities. The result is a transformation of the development processes in the Chiefdoms, contributing to the allocation of natural resources in the Chiefdom to agricultural and economic activities that benefit the Chiefdoms population both in terms of food security and income.
Infrastructure for Soil and Water conservation:
The project invests in rain water harvesting at the homestead and in the fields, in rehabilitation of new construction of small irrigation dams and in erosion control with a view to enhance the productivity of land and water resources in a sustainable manner.
All investments are guided by the Chiefdom Development Planning as well as by effectiveness criteria. All infrastructure is developed with the intended users, with groups and agreements established under the view of the Chiefdom.
The capture of water resources and the protection of land resources results in resources being available to market led agriculture initiatives.
The project also supports enhanced resilience to climate change through better management of land and other natural resources.
These developments emanate through the Chiefdom Development Planning process which improves Sustainable Land and Water Management, providing a base for economic empowerment and food security.
Land Degradation Surveillance Framework
A Land Degradation Surveillance Framework (LDSF) which acts as a monitoring system combining satellite imagery with ground data observed in 13 sentinel sites has been introduced as a national system to assess the trends of the environment.
The land degradation surveillance will assist the project to identify soil erosion hotspots and prevent soil erosion before it occurs.
This enhances national capacity for achieving the United Nations Convention Targets.
Market Led Agriculture
Existing and confirmed market demands which have been identified for legumes, vegetables, fruits, indigenous chickens, goats and beekeeping form the starting point for development and improvement of Value Chains available to smallholder farmers.
The project supports smallholder farmers to supply national market demands in a better manner i.e. quality, quantity and timeliness.
This component is divided into two parts i.e. horticulture and livestock components.
Conservation Agriculture
The project engages in a farming system that manages the agro – ecosystem for improved and sustained agricultural productivity, enhanced food, nutrition and income security while preserving and restoring the resource base and biodiversity.
80 Lead farmers have been trained and they assist communities with knowledge in their communities.
It comprises of three principles;
- Minimum soil disturbance
- Intercropping and crop rotation.
- Permanent Soil cover
The benefits of CA include improved soil health, increased available water storage capacity, improved soil biodiversity, and increased carbon sequestration (associated with reduced soil carbon losses).
This innovation targets three categories of farmers which are;
- Household Food security farmers
- Emerging semi-commercial farmers
- Highly productive commercial farmers
Permaculture
As means to provide food security and nutrition farmers are encouraged to practice permaculture gardening. This farming method requires minimal resources since it uses available resources in households. The project provides start up inputs for the farmers to grow a wide variety of vegetables and herbs. Farmers are encouraged to grow for home consumption and surplus to community members.
Livestock component
The project promotes that each and every household produce livestock for commercial purposes. The livestock value chain comprises of goats, indigenous chickens and honey. The project then assists the farmers to secure formal markets. The farmers are also trained to produce according to the standard that is required by the markets.
