Mbabane- A total of E4.9 million in agricultural loans has been approved under the Agricultural Mechanisation Project, providing a major boost to efforts aimed at increasing farm productivity and expanding agribusiness opportunities in Eswatini.
The initiative, a partnership between the Ministry of Agriculture, the United States Embassy, Standard Bank Eswatini and the Eswatini Agricultural Development Fund (EADF), is designed to improve access to modern farming equipment while supporting the development of private tractor service providers.
EADF Head of Technical Services Zweli Vilakati when speaking on Market View show aired on Eswatini TV said the financing model was created to make agricultural machinery more accessible to farmers and entrepreneurs.
“In this particular partnership, Standard Bank contributes 75 percent of the total value of the equipment, EADF contributes 15 percent, and the farmer is expected to contribute only 10 percent of the total value,” said Vilakati.
He revealed that 25 applications were submitted for consideration, with only eight meeting the financing requirements.
“Out of the 25 that were submitted for review, only eight were approved and made it through to be financed. The 17 which didn’t make it were affected by a number of factors, one of which was the viability of the business proposals,” he said.
Vilakati noted that project partners are now working to assist unsuccessful applicants improve their business plans to increase their chances of qualifying in future.
“Currently, we are trying to work with Standard Bank to look through the 17 applicants which didn’t make it through to see what we can do to assist them and ensure that their business proposals are viable,” he added.
Of the eight successful applicants, four have already taken delivery of their tractors and equipment, while the remaining four opted to delay collection until the next ploughing season.
“When they were trying to do the calculations, they saw that taking the tractors early, when the season was almost finished, was not going to make business sense for them, so they decided they would take the tractors during the coming ploughing season,” explained Vilakati.
Since March, EADF has disbursed approximately E900,000 towards approved mechanisation packages, while Standard Bank has approved loans valued at E4.9 million.
Vilakati described mechanisation as critical to the country’s agricultural transformation agenda. ” Agricultural mechanisation is key to unlocking agribusiness growth, boosting productivity and strengthening Eswatini’s food sovereignty through increased local food production,” she said.
The broader programme aims to roll out 250 mechanisation packages targeting National Maize Corporation producers and private sector operators, with government and its partners expecting the initiative to contribute to increased food production, improved efficiency and the growth of rural enterprises.
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