Farming production decreases to 23%
EZULWINI – Eswatini will continue to import more and export less, as the agriculture and farming industry production rate continues to decline in the overall business segmentation.
This sector was leading in the country, with production sufficient enough to supply both local and international markets.
Local farmers seem to be finding it difficult to produce enough products to supply both local and international markets, which are demanding.
More products which were produced locally are now imported into the country, which increases supply costs making them more expensive.
The decrease observed in the agriculture sector has resulted to an increase in the wholesale and retail sector.
Entrepreneurship
This was mentioned by the Director of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Mluleki Dlamini on Wednesday during the capacity building on entrepreneurship development for MSME in the country held at the Sibane Sami Hotel.
Dlamini said the agriculture and farming sector needs to grow in order to decrease the level of imports in the country.
He said the decline in this sector has resulted in the country relying more on imported products which are expensive to supply and buy.
“The decrease in agriculture production has resulted in the increase in prices of products in stores because most of them were now acquired abroad,” he said.
Dlamini said the wholesale and retail business was leading because it relied more on the movement and supply of goods.
He said the movement increased when agriculture and farming decreased, because most produce which was produced locally was halted.
“Most farmers have stopped producing the products which are now being imported in large quantities causing the shift in the sector,” said the Director.
Nomphilo Dlamini a feedlot farmer based in Madlangempisi said the decrease is caused by the lack of support by government and cooperatives in the agri-business.
Dlamini was speaking on behalf of feedlot farmers during the event.
Difficult
She said local banking intitutions found it difficult to offer financial support to feedlot farmers because they do not understand the business.
“When we go to these cooperatives to request for financial assistance, we are not assisted because the people in these institutions do not know how our businesses operate,” she said.
Dlamini added that should a loan application become successful, the cooperatives give them a period of a month to start repayments.
She said this affected their business, because they need about six months to start paying back the money.
“When they give us loans, they want us to start repaying them quickly, which affects us, because we need time to observe the growth and production phase,” she said.
The farmer added that the cooperatives need to hire people who understand the agri-business, so that the banks can understood the business as well.
She said this would make it easier for the banks to know how long production takes and also understand the process of the business.