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

as dividends, to provide incentives for loan repayments.Assist in the maintenance of irrigation equipment:Extensive and expensive equipment has been installed to support smallholderirrigation projects, and requires maintenance by local users. Optimal upkeep of theirrigation infrastructure is important to maintain distribution and applicationefficiencies, but is costly.RDMU assists in the repairs of irrigation systems’ design flaws and the capacity tomanage the equipment. Current Business Plans require that the farmers set aside arequisite budget for the maintenance of irrigation equipment 29 .Establish a conditional debt relief facility for farmers who are not viable, who areconsidering exiting and/or diversifying from sugar cane:Diversification initiatives have been considered. In support of the NAS, a study on anExit Strategy was undertaken to determine the cost of exiting sugar cane productionby growers at an uneconomical distance from sugar mills, to replace cane withalternative crops 30 .Options to support diversification and a move to other crops were presented inRDMU’s report on an exit strategy. These included:• financial support to change from cane to other crops, including grantpayments for cane eradication;• establishing a system/institution that provides technical advice/training oncrops other than sugar;• supporting research into irrigated crop production e.g. at Malkerns ResearchStation;• improving marketing research and structures for other strategic crops e.g. drybeans, maize, and vegetables;• financial support in establishing processing, cold storage and packagingplants for vegetables; and• supporting infrastructure improvements e.g. canals, water storage facilities,and irrigation infrastructure.Farmers would thus be directly assisted with the cost of eradicating the cane, landpreparation and the provision of seed. Under the SCGA grant contract, provision ismade for such initiatives; a survey to ascertain interest from the target group and thearea involved is set to be undertaken.The benefits of diversification may include: non-dependence on one crop; that grossmargins may be higher than for sugar, particularly if not affected by high transportcosts; and that growing subsistence crops/vegetables may serve as a safety net intimes of difficulty (such as during drought). Disadvantages include: the opportunitycost of lost income from cane growing; the change induces costs, for caneeradication, to prepare the land and plant an alternative crop, to adapt the irrigationsystem, to acquire machinery/equipment, and to redeploy/train labour or terminate29 The SSA has indicated that LUSIP and KDDP schemes may introduce levies for the FAs to cover operation andmaintenance costs.30 RDMU (2009j)RDMU (Strategic Environmental Assessment of the National Adaptation Strategy) - Page 60