Project Name：Emerging Fruit Tree Production, Marketing and Capacity Building Project in the Kingdom of Eswatini

Project status：Projects in Operation

Cooperating Country：Kingdom of Eswatini

Project Description：

Kingdom of Eswatini takes agriculture and animal husbandry as one of the main economic pillars. However, agricultural production activities are biased towards sugarcane monocrops, which have been affected by the decline in international sugar prices and the withdrawal of sugarcane trade preferences in the European Union, which has affected farmers' livelihoods. To diversify agricultural production and farmers' income, TaiwanICDF  introduced emerging crop technologies, mentored farmers in the country to cultivate market-oriented crops such as bananas, guava, pitaya, papaya, strawberries, etc., and strengthened the industrial chain development and sales system, successfully assisting 800 farmers to achieved the goal to increase income per-hectare of 39.48 percent in the past. In order to enhance the development scale of Eswatini designated fruit tree items and increase the proportion of overall fruit trees in the total output value of agricultural products, this project will continue to expand the production capacity of guava, pitaya and strawberry and strategically market fruits with domestic demand as the main and export as the supplement, and at the same time improve the post-harvest treatment technology of fruit products.

Project No：TT-310-2024-022

Implementation Start Date：2024-01-01

Implementation End Date：2027-12-31

Project Objectives：

(1) improving the stability of the production quantity and quality of promoted fruits; (2) establishing marketing strategies and work for promoting fruit domestic and export sales; (3) establishing a mechanism and operation of emerging fruit collection and co-marketing.

Executing Agency：

Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund (Taiwan ICDF), Eswatini Water and Agricultural Development Enterprise (EWADE), Eswatini National Agriculture and Marketing Board (NAMBoard)

Implementation Progress：

By the end of September 2024, the following activities have been implemented:

1.Expand the supply system of healthy fruit tree seedlings, producing a total of 56,050 fruit tree seedlings.

2.Guide the operation of one banana tissue culture laboratory, train technical personnel for independent operation, and complete the cultivation of 39,674 healthy banana seedlings.

3.Expand the cultivation area of fruit trees, and promote an additional 6 hectares of dragon fruits, guavas and strawberries.

4.Conduct a total of 6 training courses on crop cultivation management, post-harvest treatment techniques, and market marketing capabilities, benefiting 143 people.

5.Assist establish and obtain a registration certificate for a farmers' production and marketing cooperative in the Hawane area, and ensure a stable supply of strawberries to chain supermarkets..

6.Assist farmers in selling fruits to local chain supermarkets, with a total output value of 220,293 US dollars.

Project Contact：Gillian Lin

Phone：+886-2-2888-6043

E-mail：ch.lin@icdf.org.tw