Eswatini Agriculture Development Fund Director Nokwazi Mamba Hlophe.
BY: SIBUSISIWE NDZIMANDZE | JOURNALIST
MBABANE – The Eswatini Agriculture Development Fund (EADF) has channelled E42.7 million into 79 agribusinesses across the country, backing horticulture, fruit, livestock and grain projects in a drive to create jobs, cut food imports and keep money circulating in the local economy.
Launched on 28 November 2024 by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Fund was set up to tackle one of the most stubborn obstacles facing local farmers: access to affordable, responsive finance.
EADF Director Nokwazi Mamba Hlophe said the Fund exists to help farmers who are serious about agriculture turn their projects into sustainable businesses.
“We look at whether the project will create jobs, reduce imports, circulate money in the economy and contribute to the agricultural value chain,” she said.
Many aspiring farmers, she added, have land, passion and ideas but lack the capital for irrigation, fencing, water storage, inputs and other infrastructure. “This is the gap EADF is trying to close. We want to support EmaSwati who are committed to agriculture and who are ready to treat it as a business.”
From E84,000 to E800,000: the Lesibovu story
Few beneficiaries show that progression more clearly than Lesibovu Agricultural Enterprise, a collective of 10 young farmers from Gundvwini.
Lesibovu launched its vegetable project in 2024 with roughly E84,000 from the Youth Enterprise Revolving Fund (YERF). When YERF flagged infrastructure gaps that threatened the farm, it brought in the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which provided fencing to protect the investment.
With the project established, the collective approached EADF to scale up. The Fund approved a loan of more than E800,000 towards a solar-powered water pump, four storage tanks holding a combined 20,000 litres, drip irrigation, fencing across about 3.5 hectares, and farming inputs.
Lesibovu is now producing on about three hectares, with produce already reaching the market.
“Lesibovu is one of the examples showing that when a farmer receives the right support, production can improve and the market can be supplied,” Hlophe said.
Backing institutions, not just individuals
EADF is also working through partner institutions to lift production at scale. Under the Hamba Ubuye fund, in partnership with the Eswatini Water and Agricultural Development Enterprise (EWADE), the Fund has committed about E5 million to 75 farmers growing maize and beans on 487 hectares.
A separate partnership with the National Maize Corporation (NMC) has put E1.4 million into production on 116 hectares of underutilised government land, which Hlophe said is progressing well.
Making the loans cheaper
Hlophe acknowledged that agriculture carries real risk: erratic weather, pests and disease, high input costs, market pressure and thin margins. To soften the blow, EADF absorbs the loan initiation and management fees beneficiaries would normally pay costs estimated at about 11 percent of approved loans, or up to E4 million in support.
“That support works like a grant because beneficiaries do not pay those additional charges. It makes the loan cheaper and helps the business remain viable,” she said.
Not free money
Still, Hlophe was firm that EADF financing is not a handout. Beneficiaries are expected to be disciplined and to repay, so the Fund can support the next applicant. So far, farmers have repaid about E1.6 million, a figure she called encouraging.
“The money that helps you today must be repaid so that it can help another beneficiary tomorrow,” she said.
The Fund does not simply disburse and step back, she added: “We do not just give money and leave the beneficiary alone. We monitor, guide and support them so that the project can continue even after the loan has been repaid.”
Hlophe said EADF is open to any Liswati serious about agribusiness, young or old. She urged applicants to understand their commodity, work with extension officers and weigh land, water, skills, production costs and market demand before applying and to look beyond primary production to processing, packaging, storage, transport, logistics and seed production.
“Agriculture has challenges, but serious people should not be afraid. Let us work together to move the country from one point to another,” she said.
Farmers can apply through their nearest Rural Development Area offices or via the agriculture information system at https://agrinfosystems.gov.sz/.
