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Operations
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Southeast Swaziland is the
country's driest region, where there
is a severe water shortage both for
agricultural and household use. For
this reason, in 2000, the Swaziland
government held an international
conference seeking financial support
in the Lower Usuthu Smallholder
Irrigation Project (LUSIP) from
multilateral and bilateral development
institutions. The following year, the
country invited Taiwan to participate
in the financing of the project.
This project is designed to
be implemented in two phases.
During the first phase (Phase I),
infrastructure including three dams
and water supply systems are to be
built and 6,500 hectares of irrigated
land are to be developed, while
during the second phase (Phase II),
an additional 5,000 hectares will be
developed. The goal of the project
is to alleviate poverty and improve
living standards of the communities
in the Lower Usuthu Basin, one of
the poorest regions in the country,
through commercialization and
intensification of irrigated agriculture.
By building infrastructure such as
irrigation systems and farm roads,
production conditions in agriculture
will be improved. Local subsistence
smallholder farmers will receive
technical support and training to
transform themselves into small-
scale commercial producers and
increase household income, and safe
drinking water and public health and
sanitation facilities will improve living
conditions and ensure the health of
the rural population.
Financing Both Infrastructure
andTechnology for Agriculture
Phase I of the project began in
2003 with an overall expenditure
of US$ 287 million and a total of
eight international development
financiers, including
the TaiwanICDF which
provided a US$ 5 million
loan for construction
of infrastructure. By
t h e e n d o f Ma r c h
2015 , a l l i r r i ga t i on
work were completed
and 3,553 hectares
were developed for
agricultural production
against the target of
6,500.
As f or agr i cu l t ura l ou tpu t s
achieved in Phase I, more than
80 farmer companies have been
registered. Some of these have
already commercially produced
crops or invested in pig raising. In
terms of environmental mitigation
components, consultations were held
with local communities regarding a
comprehensive management plan
for resettlement and environmental
managemen t , and measu res
were explored on sustainable land
management practices. In addition,
provision of water purification systems
and the construction of pit latrines
have increased access to improved
drinking water and sanitation for
around 20,000 people.
Besides financing construction,
the TaiwanICDF cooperated with
the Swaziland government in 2012
to provide loans to local farmer
companies through the Swaziland
Development Finance Corporation
(FINCORP). Furthermore, as the
civil work of Phase I work neared
comp l e t i on , t he gove r nmen t
requested experts of the Taiwan
Technical Mission in
Swaziland to provide
g u i d a n c e o n c r o p
planting to help diversify
agricultural production.
In line with the Ministry of
Agriculture's action plan,
a Fruit Tree Production
and Marketing Project
will be implemented in
2016 in this area.
As this is a major
national infrastructure
project for Swaziland, to increase its
overall effectiveness, the government
once more convened a donors’
conference in 2014 and expanded
the original Phase II target of 5,000
hectares to 9,000 hectares of land
to be developed. In view of this,
in February 2015, the TaiwanICDF
participated in a joint preparatory
mission with other development
financial institutions and provided
technical suggestions regarding
water availability for the entire project
area, water supply efficiency, water
use management, construction
work, and crop diversity. When the
government of Swaziland completes
the preparatory work including
detailed design and assessment of
environmental and social impacts,
the TaiwanICDF will then assess the
feasibility of financing the extended
Phase II of this project.
15,500
Increase in irrigated
land
Hectares
Swaziland
Lower Usuthu Smallholder Irrigation
Project
5
Case Study