The Lower Usutu Smallholder Irrigation Project *

LUSIP Background | The LUSIP EIA | The Project Brief |

For a more detailed overview of the LUSIP project please visit the official LUSIP site

The main objective of the project is poverty alleviation to allow smallholder farmers to shift from risky rainfed agriculture and low-productivity extensive cattle grazing, to high-value irrigated crops, notably sugar cane and cotton. This follows the National Indicative Programme, which allocates 70% of development funds to agriculture and rural development. The NIP aims to bridge the gap between small holder farming and commercial enterprises, particularly to diversify and improve productivity, rural incomes and nutrition, as well as to increase agricultural exports.

The project will embrace a 10-year, 2-phase programme, finally providing smallholder irrigated cropping on 11,600ha. The main infrastructure includes a low weir on the Usuthu at Bulungapoort, 23km of feeder canal leading to Bovane reservoir which will have 155m m³ storage capacity. Two main canals serve the irrigation blocks. The northern canal commands 2000 ha (including 1300ha by 30m lift pumping); the southern canal commands a further 4500ha in the Bovane Block and 5100ha in the Matata Block, some of which would involve pumping. The southern canal would run for a total of 75km.

Crops to be grown would include sugarcane, cotton, vegetables, beans, corn, bananas, and other fruit. Half of the irrigation planned is sprinkler (particularly on the more marginal soils), the other half surface irrigation. (Surface irrigation is considerably cheaper in both capital and running costs but is less efficient in water use, with only 50-60% efficiency being common, as compared to 70-80% efficiencies with sprinklers.) Drainage is planned on 10% of the surface-irrigated area. Sugarcane would be transported to the Ubombo Mill (a maximum distance of 35km – average distance 15km); cotton would be processed at Matata. Both facilities would be expanded by the private entities involved.

Each smallholder family would be allocated an irrigated land holding of 3.5ha, the size optimised for family labour to be fully used. Smallholders would be organised into Water User Groups (WUGs) and Farmers Associations (FAs), each covering 55-100 ha of irrigated land. WUGs and FAs would be responsible for organising irrigation at farmer level, collection of revenues, and organisation of some maintenance activities.

Table of Contents

• Background
• Physiography and Agro-ecological Zones
• The Importance of Agriculture
• Land Use in Swaziland
• The Sugar Industry
• Sugarcane Production
• The Lower Usutu River Basin Project
• The European Unions' Involvement
• The Smallholders
• Cropping Pattern
• The Environmental Impact
• Mitigation Measures

---

Background

Swaziland is a small, landlocked, independent Kingdom located in south-eastern Africa between the Republics of South Africa and Mozambique. Her land area of 17,364 square kilometres makes her one of the smallest countries in Africa. Swaziland is surrounded to the east by Mozambique and the Republic of South Africa to the North, West and South. The population is about 890, 000 people with an average annual growth rate of 3.4%  Despite her small land area, Swaziland contains a variety of topographic and climatic conditions. As such, the country is divided into four distinct ecological regions from west to east: Highveld, Middleveld, Lowveld, and the Lubombo Plateau. The Highveld region to the west, which covers about 31 percent of the country's land area, has an average altitude of 900 - 1500 metres. It is mountainous, and has a temperate climate with warm wet summers, and cool to cold, dry winters. The Middleveld has a lower altitude than the Highveld, is warmer, receives less rain than the Highveld, and is more favourable to agriculture. The Lowveld region has the largest land area (37 percent of the country's area), erratic rainfall, and is very hot especially during summer. It presents typical African bush country of thorn trees and grasslands. The Lubombo Plateau is a mountainous area to the east which separates Swaziland from Mozambique. It is the smallest region, and has a climate similar to that of the Middleveld.

Physiography and Agro-ecological Zones

Swaziland is divided into four agro-ecological zones running from north from south. These are: the Highveld, Middleveld, Lowveld and Lubombo.

The Highveld, which lies along the western border of the country covers 5,200 km2 or 29% of the country. The altitude ranges from 1000 - 1800 m above sea level (asl), the rainfall is between 1000 and 1750 mm. The mean annual temperature ranges between 11-2oC. The soils are acidic and generally low in nitrogen, phosphorus and magnesium. Soil erosion is a constant threat, especially on the steep slopes, which are seriously overgrazed. Permanent grazing takes about 300,000 ha, most of which is used for cattle grazing and about 31% of the country's herd is found in the Highveld. About 18,000 ha of crop land is operated by small-scale farmers who grow mostly maize.

The Middleveld is to the east of the Highveld and covers 4,700 km2 or 26% of the country's land area. The zone is hilly to the west with gently undulating savannah to the east. The altitude ranges from 350 to 1000 m asl. The annual rainfall ranges from 750 - 1200 mm and the mean temperatures range from 12-26oC. The soils here are deep friable red clay loam with grey-brown sands and sandy loams in the areas of poor drainage. The Middleveld is the main agricultural zone of the country growing such crops as citrus, pineapple, cotton, maize, groundnuts, beans and vegetables. About 41% of the population live here.

The Lowveld is to the east of the Middleveld and covers 6400 km2 or 37% of the country. The altitude ranges from 60 - 370 m asl. The climate is semi-arid with rainfall ranging from 500 to 700 mm per annum. Temperatures are high and variable. About 12% of the western part of the Lowveld has good to fair soil for arable farming while 30% of the eastern Lowveld has vertisol soils. The crops grown here include sugar cane, cotton, groundnuts and sorghum. About 24% of the population live in this zone.

The Lubombo Plateau forms the eastern border of the country. This is an escarpment and a broken plateau and covers about 1,300 km2 or 8% of the country. The altitude ranges from 450 - 850 m asl with an annual rainfall of 750 - 900 mm. Mean annual temperatures range from 14 -25oC. The arable land in this zone is about 12%. The main commercial activity in this zone is ranching, maize cotton and minor crop production. Only 4% of the population live in this zone.

Table 1 - Physiography and Agro-ecological Zones of Swaziland

The Importance of Agriculture

The agricultural sector plays a very important role in the economy of the country and in 1994 its contribution, including forestry, to gross domestic product was about 13% at 1985 factor prices. Manufacturing industry's contribution was 35.8%. However, about 80% of the manufacturing industry is agro-based, indicating that the contribution by agriculture could be as high as about 42 %. Of this total, 26% was accounted for by maize and cotton production on SNL and 67 % by sugar, citrus and pineapple production on TDL and the rest by livestock.

Table 2 - Cropped area for most crops in Swaziland on Swazi Nation Land (SNL) in 1987/88.

Land Use in Swaziland

The agricultural sector of the country is divided sharply into two groups: the modern capital intensive sub-sector and the traditional sub-sector. The former consists of about 760 privately owned farms and estates averaging about 800 ha. About 60 -70% of these farms are irrigated and the most important crops on theses estates are sugarcane, citrus pineapples and cotton. The traditional sub-sector takes up about 65% of the total area of the country.

The Sugar Industry

Sugar production is centred around the Lowveld in the east of the country where three major millers produce 167 000 million tons of sugar each off 20 000 hectares of land. Sugarcane production represents 95% of the currently irrigated land in the Swaziland Lowveld. Smaller growers and in particular Swazi small scale growers are increasing overall production due to the relatively simple cultivation, ease of marketing and rapid repayment of capital and recurrent costs.

Sugar is Swaziland's most important industry. Direct employment in the industry totals 36,000, while it is estimated that over 10 per cent of the population is dependent on incomes derived principally from the sugar sector. In recent years, there has also been a demonstration of the potential to involve Swazi nationals in sugar cane production and generate significant income to disadvantaged rural areas in the Lowveld. Over the years, Swaziland's sugar industry has developed on the basis of a preferential market quota for sugar exports to the European Union (EU) and the United States of America (USA).

The sugar industry is controlled by the Sugar Act of 1967 which created and gave powers to the Swaziland Sugar Association (SSA). The SSA is an association of cane growers and sugar millers which regulates the industry, promotes its interests and is responsible for all processing, conditioning, bagging and marketing beyond the point at which raw sugar is produced at the mill. Total proceeds from the sale of sugar in all markets are pooled by the SSA. All growers and millers receive a price which is based on the average price realised from the sale of all sugar.

An important element of the regulatory environment for the sugar industry is the sugar export levy. This is a tax on the profits of the sugar industry as a whole, charged as 50 percent of the average proceeds per tonne realised above a given reference price per tonne. The reference price is determined each year on the basis of national production costs and capital employed determined by the Cane Prices Review Committee, subject to approval by the Minister of Finance (MoF).

Sugar is produced from sugar cane grown on 38,000 ha of land with an average yield of about 100 tonnes per hectare. Of this area, 68 percent is cultivated by millers and 32 percent by growers.

Over the past three decades, the sugar industry has been the backbone of the economy with revenue exceeding US$ 160m. In 1995, sugar revenue was about US $140 million (about E630 million). This amount represents 67 percent of the total agricultural production. The industry contributes 23 percent of the gross domestic product and 33 percent of the foreign exchange earnings. The industry is also the largest tax payer and the largest employer. Sugar cane is grown under irrigation, of which 54 percent is under furrow, 44 percent under sprinkler and 2 percent under drip irrigation. Harvesting is all by hand. Swaziland ranks close to the top in most efficiency measures and thus compares favourably with other world producers. This indicates that Swaziland is technically efficient and therefore a potent competitor in the world.

Sugarcane Production

Sugarcane remains as the most important cash crop in Swaziland. In 1995/96, sugarcane was cultivated on 38,225 ha with a total cane and sucrose production of 34,8667 and 47,5520 tonnes, respectively (Table 3). Over 90% of the crop is grown by three millers (Big Bend, Mhlume and Simunye) and five large growers. Nine estates have over 1000 ha each while only 14 growers have 500 - 1000 ha and majority of the growers, 282, have less than 50 ha. The production of the crop is expanding rapidly and its most likely that about 1000 ha of cane will be grown in the Malkerns Valley within the next five years. The opening of the Maputo Corridor may also increase the number of growers, possibly small growers.

In 1995, sugar revenue was about US $140 million (about E630 million). Its contribution to GDP was 23% and this was about 33% of the nation's foreign exchange earnings. This amount (E630 million) represented 67% of agricultural contribution and the industry employed about 36,000 people.

With increase in smallholder cane production, there will be an urgent need to investigate intercropping with sugarcane as is the practice in Mauritius.

Table 3 - Summary of Cane and Sucrose Production in Swaziland, 1995/96

The Lower Usutu River Basin Project

Swaziland is facing declining economic growth and in an attempt to address this the government has undertaken a feasibility study of the irrigation prospects for sugarcane grown by small-scale farmers in the Lower Usutu River Basin.

The pre-feasibility study indicated that the Lower Usutu Basin does have commercial potential and eight international consultancy firms have been short listed to bid for the feasibility study.

The pre-feasibility study established that there is sufficient summer flow in the Usutu River to allow some to be diverted into a reservoir and stored for year-round irrigation of some 25 000 - 30 000 ha. The Lower Usutu Basin project envisages a smallholder irrigation scheme of up to 14 000 ha costing up to E225 million including the dam, canal infrastructure and other bulk infrastructure. The construction of the 150 million cubic meter dam, called Bovane Dam, would assure water supplies by controlled releases at times of low river flow (typically around September to October) that will give greater water security to downstream users, principally Ubombo Ranches in Big Bend.

The European Unions' Involvement

The European Union and the Government of Swaziland will bear the costs for the implementation of the project through financing from Swaziland's National Indicative Programme (NIP) as part of the EU's Lomé IV agreement with ACP states.

Swaziland's primary focal sector is agriculture and rural development and it is envisaged that around 70% of the Swaziland's total NIP (ECU 29 million) from the 8th European Development Fund funds will be allocated to this sector. Within this sector particular attention will be paid to productive smallholder agriculture and its integration into a commercial market-orientated environment. The European Community have committed themselves to support the Government of Swaziland's policy in creating sustainable agricultural development. In this context the EU will provide resources for expertise, works ands supplies to develop smallholder irrigation on Swazi Nation Land (SNL) in the Lower Usutu River basin, ensuring that environmental, social and economic impact assessments are integral to the appraisal and implementation processes. Private sector involvement is also envisaged to ensure the sustainability of the project. Ubombo Ranches and the Swaziland Sugar Association have all indicated their willingness to contribute to the project.

The Smallholders

At the present time some 700 hectares of sugarcane and 300 hectares of vegetables, bananas, mangoes and other fruits are already irrigated by SNL farmers in and near the project area. Extension services provided by Ubombo Ranches plus the farmers associations own efforts have resulted in a cane yield of 93 tcha (tons can per hectare per annum), as against 100 tcha obtained by growers on TDL supplying the Ubombo Ranches mill.

Cropping Pattern

Climatically the project area is suitable for the production of many crops provided they are adequately irrigated, but for maximum profitability the crop mix will be dominated by sugarcane as this gives the highest returns of any crop that can be grown on the scale demanded to justify the costs of the project. Other crops expected to be grown include cotton in a double-cropping rotation with a short season annual in winter, e.g. dry beans, grapefruit, bananas and a few hectares of high value horticultural crops.

The Environmental Impact

The project falls under the Swaziland Environment Authority's Environmental Audit, Assessment and Review Regulations of 1996 as a Category 3 project. This means it will require a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) with a Comprehensive Mitigation Plan (CMP) that will describe appropriate mitigation and monitoring measures to be undertaken during the development.

The construction of dams whether on or off-stream, the provision and development of irrigation and physical infrastructure are activities that are likely to have adverse impacts on the environment.

Table 4 - Potential Environmental Impacts

The principal environmental impacts that are likely to occur during and after the implementation of the project are:

The Socio-economic Impacts

The project area has traditionally been used for livestock production with over 16 000 head of cattle and 20 000 head of small stock representing 12% of the cattle and 16% of the small stock in the Lubombo region as a whole. The average cattle density over the area is about 3 ha per beast with a Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives (MoAC) stocking rate recommendation of 3.6 ha per beast.

The inundation of 2 000 Ha for the reservoir and the opening up of 14 000 Ha for agricultural production is likely to have the effect of shifting herds to marginal lands and/or overstocking of already heavily overstocked grazing lands.

Apart from using the SNL for grazing, the homesteads located in the project area depend on the natural vegetation for firewood (96% of the homesteads in the Lubombo region use fuel from the natural vegetation), for construction materials (poles and thatching grass) and for other uses such as crafts. The inundation of the area together with the change in land use to irrigated agriculture will remove that land as sources for these materials.

Social conflicts between the local population and new settlers together with the arrival of construction staff will undoubtedly occur. It will be important to keep these impacts to a minimum by employing as many local people as possible rather than bringing in outside labour.

Resettlement of both the local population and the new settlers will result in significant environmental impacts not least on the environment itself as the increase in population will put extra pressure on existing resources, i.e. woodfuel, grazing and arable land, water resources and support services such as schools, clinics and agricultural extension. It is imperative, therefore that the resettlement programme be designed to minimise the impact through rigorous public consultation and ultimately agreement between the parties concerned.

The construction of the reservoir together with the related canal infrastructure will result in various kinds of health hazards including drowning, increased incidence of malaria and schistosomiasis (both of which are prevalent in the area already). Other health risks to the population will include an increase in communicable diseases through the introduction of waste water into the water supply. Cholera, gastro-enteritis and other helminthic, bacterial and viral diseases.

Archaeological remains are limited in the project area, but occasional finds of surface collections of stone age materials have been found. Evidence suggests that very early agriculturists may have settled in the Usutu river valley around 300 AD. There is a strong probability that the river valleys of the Swaziland Lowveld may contain evidence of this early economy.

Impacts on the Natural Environment

The loss of wildlife habitats and biodiversity will be significant within the project area. To date no specific surveys of the flora and fauna have been carried out in the project area, however a survey of the range resources provides a general picture of the vegetation in the project area. There are no nature reserves or protected areas within the project area, although Mhlosinga Nature Reserve and other conservancy areas totalling some 15 000 ha are located around and north of Big Bend.

Impacts from Infrastructure Construction and Preparation

The inundation of 2 000 Ha for the Bovane Dam and the terrain requirements for 70 - 150 km of canals will reduce the amount of land surface in the project area. This is however offset by the addition of 14 000 ha of irrigable land.

Increased soil erosion from the construction of the Bovane Dam and canal systems is inevitable. Burrow pits for fill and road construction together with general land clearing for the reservoir area, irrigable areas and roads will significantly increase the incidence of soil erosion. Adequate soil erosion control will be needed to ensure that surface drainage is in a controlled and non-erosive manner. Likely consequences of soil erosion are increases in suspended solids in water, siltation of the reservoir decreasing its storage capacity and reducing its water quality for both terrestrial and aquatic life, decrease in land use potential, loss of arable soil, destruction of habitats and a decrease in the aesthetic quality of the environment.

Mitigation Measures

The pre-feasibility study found no single negative impact and no combination of such impacts that would adversely affect the sustainability of the project. There will be some irreversible impacts such as the displacement of traditional land use, loss of natural vegetation and the resettlement of about 250 people, but in general there are mitigation measures which can greatly reduce the adverse environmental impacts and even offer the opportunity for enhancement of the environment.

Table 5 below lists some of the main problems along with suggested mitigation measures.

Table 5 - Mitigation Measures

 * The information above does not necessarily represent the view or opinion of the Swaziland Government or the European Commission

Home | National Projects | Environmental Legislation | Policies and Action Plans | Documents

This page was last updated on 15 November 2001