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ZULWINI – The high cost of agriculture inputs have affected production by reducing the quality and quantity of produce.
This has further affected the performance of the agriculture business segment and contributed to the hike in imports, pushing exports down. Farmers with financial challenges and those that were affected by COVID-19 pandemic are still finding it difficult to be at equilibrium with the demands of the current market. Farmers cited that due the upscale of the inputs, they reduced the quantity of inputs used in production and feigned a look of success when supplying. “We used little to no inputs in our production because they are now too expensive to buy and we cannot afford their required quantities,” they said.
Minister of Agriculture Jabulani Mabuza said he was yet to deliberate and come up with strategies on how to improve resilience of the horticulture sub-sector in the midst of skyrocketing farm input costs, with fertiliser taking the lead. Mabuza said over and above the excessive costs, these inputs have also become very difficult to source. The minister said in the planting season of 2021, their suppliers in the agro-industry faced challenges in getting fertiliser and by the time they had access, the price had escalated tremendously. “This predicament was firstly caused by the COVID-19 pandemic where factories around the world had to suspend operations in respect of health protocols,” he said.
The minister added that this resulted in very limited supplies while the demand was continuously increasing. Mabuza added that when the situation was starting to normalise, the agriculture industry was once again hit hard by the Russia/Ukraine war. “SADC region purchases most of its fertiliser from various sources outside the region. These sources were affected by the war and as such the price continued to increase to the current levels,” he said.
The minister further mentioned that Eswatini needed to continue eating and government looked up to agriculture to come up with solutions.
Eswatini Water and Agricultural Development Enterprise (ESWADE) Chief Executive Officer Sam Sithole also said their objective was to discuss the possible strategies for reducing agricultural production costs such as fertilisers and seeds with the aim of achieving profitable farming.
He said most agricultural enterprises and horticultural in particular were now below break-even, productivity being low, produce quality was compromised and post-harvest losses were on the rise and, therefore, there was an urgent need as a country to address the problems. “As the country is working tirelessly to recover from the destabilising effects of these crises, the consequences of the Ukraine crisis, including rising fuel prices, will further create additional vulnerabilities and make it more difficult for the country to achieve its SDGs”, he said.
Sithole also mentioned that fertiliser was one of these strategic commodities Eswatini still heavily imported. Hence, the prices of fertilisers, which were mostly made from gas, had drastically increased since the start of the crisis.