Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 5/12/2003

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CONTENT:

1 - SWAZILAND: Impact of HIV/AIDS could be worse than that of drought

1 - SWAZILAND: Impact of HIV/AIDS could be worse than that of drought

JOHANNESBURG, 12 May (PLUSNEWS) - HIV/AIDS, more than drought conditions,

has the potential for worsening Swaziland's continuing food crisis, a

joint Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission by the Food and Agriculture

Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned.

" HIV/AIDS is overshadowing everything, " said Pope, WFP/FAO

mission's agronomist.

Swaziland's adult HIV infection rate is estimated to be 38.6 percent.

The mission concluded its work at the weekend, collecting data for

analysis at the organisations' headquarters in Rome, where findings are

expected to be released at the end of the month.

With nearly 40 percent of adult Swazis infected by the HI virus and rural

areas particularly hard hit by the epidemic, AIDS is affecting the

harvesting of this year's crop.

" The labour pool is not unlimited, " Pope told PlusNews.

" It is very difficult for a granny - [with] her deceased sons' and

daughters' little children to look after - to harvest a field. And the

neighbours may not be able to help, " said Bongiwe Dlamini, an extension

officer with the Ministry of Agriculture.

" The drought's effect is made worse because of AIDS. It is also

devastating traditional Swazi life, because before we were all able to

help one another in the fields, " said Chief Malunge of Nyangeni.

Malunge described the maize crops of his chieftaincy as adequate. His area

is located in the nation's middleveld that saw fair rains this summer.

" The lowveld [the region worst hit by food shortages] had no rains again

this year. The highveld [mountainous area, including Mbabane] had normal

rains, " said Dr Arid Hussein, an economist with the FAO/WFP mission.

" But conditions change almost from kilometre to kilometre. Swaziland has

many climatic areas, " Hussein added.

Swaziland's high unemployment rate does not translate into an available

pool of labour to harvest the crops of small-scale farmers when adults

are incapacitated by HIV/AIDS.

" When a factory's workforce is compromised, there are always other people

available who seek wages. But peasant farmers pay no wages, and their

crops are for family consumption, " said Minister of Enterprise and

Employment Lutfo Dlamini.

FAO/WFP mission specialists spent last week travelling the length and

breadth of the country, examining fields, looking into maize storage bins,

and assessing the financial ability of government and private companies to

import food when anticipated shortages come – or rather, as this year's

food shortages continue into next year.

Government invited the mission into Swaziland and will base its appeal to

the international community for food aid on the resulting data.

Presently, about one-third of the population relies on WFP food aid to

stay alive. Ninety percent of this aid, mostly in the form of grain and

cooking oil, originates in the United States.

Most aid recipients reside in the drought-prone eastern lowveld near the

Mozambican and South African borders.

However, food is also distributed to informal settlements on the periphery

of urban areas and impoverished township slums.

A lack of irrigation is another factor impacting on the ability of farming

households to sustain themselves.

Major irrigation projects did not come into operation this year as

expected, partly because of a lack of water from their source, the new

Maguga Dam in northwest Swaziland. Currently, the dam is only 25 percent

full and this level is expected to diminish significantly before new

summer rains replenish it in September or October, Raphael Sangweni, chief

hydrologist for the Ministry of Natural Resources, told PlusNews.

However, Maguga irrigation water is almost completely committed to

large-scale agricultural enterprises and farmers' cooperatives that are

geared to export. Government desires the tax revenue, hard currency, and

balance of payment benefits associated with agricultural exports.

Sugar, Swaziland's chief export, is the primary product that will receive

irrigation water from the Maguga and the upcoming Lower Usuthu Irrigation

Project. The policy has drawn criticism from MPs and developmental NGOs

who wish to see water resources used to boost Swaziland's food stocks.

" The food security problem is now an annual crisis. Good rains are the

exception and not the rule in the lowveld. If we are blessed with water

for irrigation, we must use it to feed ourselves. Swaziland needs to

become self-sufficient in food production, " said MP Nthuthuko Dlamini.

The Swaziland Meteorological Service is monitoring winter weather patterns

to advise farmers on early-spring planting, in the hope of replenishing

depleted food stocks if good rains seem ready to return.

[ENDS]

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