Simunye: Royal Eswatini Sugar Corporation (RES) in partnership with the National Maize Corporation (NMC) has dedicated some of its land to help the country in addressing some of the national food security issues.
RES said wants to lead the way through its partnership with National Maize Corporation (NMC) by growing beans on part of its land.
RES Managing Director Nick Jackson said; “We are currently growing beans in partnership with NMC, this comes after noting the devastating issues of food security subjective to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“We have put 54 hectares under beans, and growing beans also comes as a benefit for crop rotation because legumes fix nitrogen into the soil. We will also be looking at growing maize as we have done before during the lengthy drought experienced in 2014, 2015 and 2016” Jackson said. The beans will be made available to the local market through the normal distribution channels established by NMC.
Noteworthy is that RES Corporation made a donation of 582 maize bags (50kg) worth E232 800 in March 2017 at Hlane constituency benefiting over 3 000 Emaswati from two communities namely; Njojane and Esiphambanweni, this was a drought relief contribution.
Jackson added that; “Covid-19 lockdowns across the world have unleashed a range of unintended consequences, sparking a global economic crisis that has magnified fault lines in society, particularly in developing nations already burdened by high levels of poverty and income disparity.”
Jackson further challenged other corporates in the kingdom to take part in assisting government during the fight against the pandemic.
“Corporates have a role to play in addressing food security.”
RES Group Public Affairs Manager Sifiso Nyembe said; “As the lockdowns continue, the situation is threatening to evolve from a public health emergency into a full-blown humanitarian crisis. Millions of people’s livelihoods have been disrupted, leaving those living from hand to mouth unable to feed themselves or their families. At the same time, disruptions to the global food value chain have exacerbated legacy problems with food security.”
Nyembe added that the company deemed fit to assist the government in ensuring that the Kingdom of Eswatini is not hit by a food security crisis especially in addition to the current health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Commercial and subsistence farmers have largely had success in bringing in harvests, with enough local crops available, such as maize, to avert a major supply crisis in the short term. We will also tap into maize production because we have once assisted government during the drought dating four years ago,” Nyembe said.
Businesses and individuals have been actively seen over the past three months assisting the government through contributions of food parcels to communities across the Kingdom. RES Corporation is one of the companies that have been actively contributing its efforts and resources towards fighting the pandemic at nation level, with a recent donation of E 405 200 worth of sanitizer and thermometers, aimed towards the safety of pupils as the schools on its estates begin to open.
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