Agriculture budget drops to E1.55bn
LOBAMBA – The budget allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture has dropped to E1.55 billion from E1.63 billion allocated in 2023.
According to the budget speech delivered by the Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg, yesterday, government is currently working on a holistic, integrated farming training programme with associated loans, industry development and technical, logistical and supply chain support, to address the pressing issues of unemployment, poverty and food self-sufficiency, in response to Sibaya submissions.
Input
Rijkenberg said the nation would be engaged for input on this project before its launch. He said this programme was modelled to be able to release at least 0.25 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2026, 0.5 per cent growth in 2027 and 0.75 per cent growth in 2028.
He added that government continued to support farmers through the input subsidy programme being implemented through the National Maize Corporation (NMC). He said the main goal was to increase production and productivity.
He said it had been noted that the demand for services under this programme has increased and E59 million has been allocated to address this. The Agriculture Revolving
Fund is also proving to assist rural farmers and an additional E35 million will be allocated to this fund.
Rijkenberg added that government has also embarked on significant capital investments in the agricultural sector. “We are currently in the process of constructing the Mpakeni Dam, which will provide water for irrigation and other developments mainly under the Shiselweni Region,” he said.
He said a sum of E630 million in the budget has been earmarked for this in the 2024/25 financial year. “We are grateful to His Majesty King Mswati III for conducting the sod-cutting to mark the commencement of such an important project,” he said.
Bill
He highlighted that he had also tabled a loan Bill to provide for the construction of a canal from the dam. He said unlike previous bulk water infrastructure projects, for this project, they would be constructing the dam, canal and in-field infrastructure at the same time so that when the dam is complete, the holistic project could start supplying water to farmers straight away.
“This project should unlock a growth of 0.25 per cent of GDP in 2026, 0.5 per cent in 2027 and two per cent in 2028,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Lower Usuthu Smallholder Irrigation Project (LUSIP II) project has also been allocated a budget of E417 million to bring it to completion so that the nation starts to realise real returns from its utilisation and feeding into the overall growth imperative in the medium term. As these project roles out, it should give us 0.5 per cent growth in 2024, 0.5 per cent growth in 2025, and 0.75 per cent growth in GDP in 2026.