Service Contract No 2007 / 147-446 Strategic ... - Swaziland

1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARYSwaziland has benefited from the European Union (EU)/Africa Caribbean Pacific (ACP)Sugar Protocol, allowing it to export a quota of sugar to the EU market at a preferential price.In 2006, the EU common organisation of the markets in the sugar sector was reformed. Thisreform involved a reduction of the EU sugar prices by 36% by 2009, which is reflected in theprice obtained by ACP Sugar Protocol countries. As a consequence, the EU denounced theSugar Protocol with effect from 1/10/2009. The European Commission (EC) has proposed anassistance scheme to help the Sugar Protocol countries who depend on the EU market, toadapt to the new situation.In this context, the EC has provided support to Swaziland in implementing the NationalAdaptation Strategy (NAS) through its Multi-Annual Indicative Programme (MIP) for theAccompanying Measures for Sugar Protocol Countries (AMSP).The NAS is divided into eight areas, under which 60 measures are proposed. The eightareas of development are:1. Competitiveness of the sugar industry2. Trade policy and the pursuit of premium markets3. Promoting productivity and efficiency in smallholder cane growing4. Diversification within and outside the sugar industry5. Social services, welfare and labour issues6. Mitigating impact on the government’s fiscal position7. Enhancing a sustainable socio-economic environment and cross-cutting issues8. Institutional structures for implementationThe Multi-Annual Adaptation Strategy (MAAS) is the EC’s Response Strategy to the NAS.Since EC support would not be sufficient to fund the whole of the NAS, the selection ofmeasures to be supported was based on priorities and the competitive advantages of theinterventions. In the current MIP 2007 – 2010 the EC intervention covers the following areas:−Institutional support, including the establishment of the Restructuring andDiversification Management Unit (RDMU) for NAS implementation, and a pool ofexperts to provide expertise in all relevant areas;- Restructuring the provision of social services;- Support for improving the productivity and efficiency of smallholder sugar canegrowers to ensure their long-term viability including co-funding of the Lower UsuthuSmallholder Irrigation Project (LUSIP) programme where funding gaps arise;- Infrastructure improvements in the production centres, the sugar estates and thetransport chain; and- Support for diversification in the form of alternative agricultural products (cane basedor others) and non-agricultural uses.As the implementation of the NAS may have impacts on the environment, the EC and theGovernment of Swaziland (GoS) have foreseen to carry out a Strategic EnvironmentalRDMU (Strategic Environmental Assessment of the National Adaptation Strategy) - Page 1