● We hope govt will reconsider- ESNAU
Mbabane- Farmers seeking to enter EWADE’s Hamba Ubuye agricultural financing scheme will have to wait until the next farming season, after the agency announced that budget constraints will prevent it from accepting any new beneficiaries during the 2026/27 season.
The Eswatini Water and Agricultural Development Enterprise (EWADE) said in a public notice that only returning farmers would be considered for assistance this season, and even their support would depend on available funds, compliance with the scheme’s policies and their loan repayment record.
The decision has raised concern among organised farmers, particularly over the implications for farmers who are expected to eventually graduate from government-supported agricultural programmes and operate independently.
Speaking with this publication, the Eswatini National Agricultural Union (ESNAU) Chief Executive Officer Tammy Dlamini said the development was worrying because some farmers still depended heavily on support to maintain commercial production.
According to ESNAU, the expectation behind agricultural subsidy programmes has been that farmers would eventually graduate and acquire enough capacity to continue farming without government assistance. However, the organization questioned how farmers could make that transition when access to production resources remained constrained.
The union said many commercial farmers relied on assistance to meet the high cost of agricultural production and warned that withdrawing or restricting support could affect their preparations for the coming farming season.
The latest development comes as Hamba Ubuye has evolved from a relatively small maize-input support initiative into one of EWADE’s key mechanisms for promoting commercial agriculture and increasing domestic maize production.The programme was launched during the 2021/22 farming season with 17 farmers cultivating about 172 hectares. Those farmers produced approximately 595 tonnes of maize after receiving inputs worth about E839,000, with EWADE reporting a recovery rate of more than 90 per cent.
The programme expanded to 73 farmers in 2022/23, before reaching 106 farmers in the 2023/24 season. During the latter season, EWADE provided inputs worth about E6.49 million and farmers cultivated 856 hectares, producing more than 2,100 tonnes of maize.
Hamba Ubuye operates as a revolving fund, meaning farmers receive production inputs on credit and are expected to repay, allowing the resources to be used to support production in subsequent seasons. EWADE implements the Commercial Maize Project in collaboration with the National Maize Corporation (NMC), which provides an assured market for participating farmers’ produce.
The broader Commercial Maize Project was established as part of efforts to increase maize production on Eswatini Nation Land, strengthen smallholder participation in commercial agriculture and reduce the country’s dependence on imported grain. EWADE initially put the value of the project at about E44.8 million, with a long-term target of cultivating 6,800 hectares and producing 30,000 tonnes of maize annually.
Government subsequently committed an additional E14 million to Hamba Ubuye in the 2025 Budget, alongside E40 million for commercial maize farming and E65 million for the NMC’s input subsidy and tractor-hire programme.
The programme’s expansion has, however, been accompanied by challenges around loan recovery. EWADE’s 2024 annual reporting showed that 44 of the 73 farmers supported during the 2022/23 season had fully repaid their loans, with E3.24 million recovered from E4.97 million allocated.
By the 2024/25 season, the programme had grown to more than 200 farmers, with EWADE reporting production of more than 3,500 tonnes of maize from about 1,568 hectares. More recently, 191 farmers were reported to have cultivated 1,424 hectares, with projected production of 5,697 tonnes — the highest expected output since the programme began.
EWADE’s latest notice means that growth will now be constrained by funding in the 2026/27 season. The agency said farming inputs would therefore be allocated according to the funds available.
It also appealed to farmers with outstanding loans to settle their obligations, stressing that repayments are critical to keeping the revolving fund operating and enabling continued assistance to farmers.
For farmers who were hoping to enter Hamba Ubuye this season, however, the immediate issue is not eligibility but access there will be no new entrants, while existing beneficiaries will have to compete for assistance within a reduced funding envelope.
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