Eswatini Water and Agricultural Development Enterprise (EWADE) Agriculture Development Manager and Acting Project Manager Zwelethu Dlamini.
BY SIBUSISIWE NDZIMANDZE | JOURNALIST
NDZEVANE — The Eswatini Water and Agricultural Development Enterprise (EWADE) was created to build water infrastructure. More than two decades later, its most enduring legacy may be something else entirely: the companies it has built in rural communities.
Under the Lower Usuthu Smallholder Irrigation Project (LUSIP), EWADE has established 128 farmer companies, community-owned commercial enterprises that have turned underutilised Swazi Nation Land into productive agribusinesses, with rural residents as shareholders.
Among them is Lomveshe (Pty) Ltd in Gundvwini, a banana farming enterprise established with a E9.1 million government investment in irrigation and agricultural infrastructure and a case study in how far EWADE’s work now extends beyond its original mandate.
From Water Projects to Enterprise Builder
Established in 1999 as the Swaziland Komati Project Enterprise (SKPE), the organisation was initially created to implement the Komati River Basin Development Project, a mandate centred on water infrastructure and irrigation.
Following the project’s success, Government expanded that mandate. Operating under the Ministry of Agriculture, EWADE was tasked with leading major irrigation and agricultural development programmes aimed at reducing poverty, improving food security and creating sustainable commercial farming opportunities in rural communities.
EWADE Agriculture Development Manager and Acting Project Manager Zwelethu Dlamini said the organisation’s work today extends far beyond constructing irrigation schemes. EWADE develops complete agricultural enterprises combining water infrastructure with technical support, business planning, institutional development, access to finance and market linkages.
In practice, this means EWADE does not simply deliver water to a community and leave. It helps residents register companies, build governance systems and run commercial farming businesses in which they are the owners.
The Farmer Company Model at Work: Lomveshe
Lomveshe (Pty) Ltd, established under LUSIP Phase I, illustrates the model in full.
Government invested approximately 70 percent of the farm’s establishment costs amounting to E9.1 million to finance bush clearing, land development, irrigation infrastructure and production facilities. The community members who own the enterprise contributed the remaining 30 percent and assumed responsibility for financing production activities.
But the infrastructure was only the starting point. EWADE assisted the enterprise with company registration, governance systems, soil surveys, irrigation design, crop selection, business planning and financial modelling.
The organisation also facilitated access to finance, resulting in Lomveshe securing a E3.9 million production loan under the Eswatini National Industrial Development Corporation (ENIDC), while linking the enterprise to markets such as the National Agricultural Marketing Board (NAMBoard) and other buyers.
Dlamini said EWADE’s objective is to ensure that farmers graduate from subsistence production into commercially sustainable businesses capable of competing in agricultural markets.
128 Companies and Counting
Lomveshe is one of many. LUSIP has become one of Eswatini’s largest rural development programmes, and its scale is measured not only in hectares irrigated but in enterprises created.
Phase I established 98 farmer companies across seven chiefdoms. Phase II expanded irrigation into four additional chiefdoms, creating another 30 farmer companies, 27 of which are operational, with the remaining three nearing completion.
Each of these companies represents rural residents who have moved from subsistence farming into shareholding in a commercial agricultural business, a transformation of livelihoods, not just landscapes.
The Next Frontier: Mkondvo
EWADE’s ambitions are growing. The organisation is implementing the Mkondvo Agricultural Development Project, set to become the country’s largest agricultural plantation development initiative, bringing approximately 30,000 hectares under agricultural production.
The project is expected to create employment opportunities, strengthen food security and expand agricultural value chains extending the enterprise-building model to a new generation of rural communities.
Challenges on the Ground
Despite the progress, Dlamini acknowledged that challenges remain particularly land disputes on Swazi Nation Land and limited access to finance for diversified farming enterprises.
However, he said EWADE’s experience demonstrates that combining irrigation infrastructure with technical expertise, institutional support, financing and market access provides a proven model for transforming rural communities into thriving commercial agricultural economies.
More than two decades after it was founded to build a water project, EWADE’s measure of success has changed. It is no longer counted only in dams and canals but in the community-owned companies now farming, employing and earning across rural Eswatini.
