Investment NEVATEAM, a globally renowned consulting firm based in Israel which specializes on drip-irrigation solutions has, through the MoA, invested cutting-edge expertise into the Engineering field of ESWADE. The Engineers from Civil, Water and Agriculture were treated to a two-week rigorous training on and off the field at the LUSIP Offices in Siphofaneni. This ‘boot-camp’ had its main focus on current trends in Drip-Irrigation Design and Maintenance. Apart from this being a climate-smart move; such advancements in drip-irrigation are currently being tackled by the 2nd Phase of the LUSIP intervention. Their main focus is on increasing quality and quantity of yields through efficient and effective water usage. Drip-Irrigation is widely viewed as the most resilient, cost-effective and quality assuring system for irrigating cash crops such as sugarcane.
Background The above investment was initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) after realizing the positive spin-offs that come with drip-irrigation such as increase in sugar-cane sucrose and water-savings for arid areas like the lowveld. Having itself attempted the system, the parent Ministry realized her shortcomings in-terms of adequate knowledge on the effective usage of the systems technology.
Consultations with competent countries such as Israel resulted in an MoU between the two states where part of the objectives are to provide a platform for information-sharing amongst the two countries. This resulted in the MoA inviting such expertise to invest in the country through ESWADE. The training lasted for two weeks with over 20 participants from both ESWADE and the parent ministry.
Such needed investments continue to strengthen the bilateral relations between Israel and the Kingdom of Eswatini which date as far back as 1968. Just last year a delegation from Israel visited the country with the intention to learn and make contributions on how Eswatini practices Agriculture (particularly irrigation) and how it addresses Health and Education concerns. ESWADE was fortunate to be amongst those enterprises visited by the delegation which resulted in the MoU with Ministry of Agriculture and the subsequent training.
Envisioned Future
ESWADE continues to take great strides towards the critical practice of climate smart agriculture. From promoting backyard gardening for food security to constructing pack-houses for ensuring quality produce; the organization, now equipped with cutting-edge expertise on designing resistant drip-irrigation systems, sees its bright future in commercial agriculture closer and more possible. With this training, the farmers of LUSIP will gain the advantage of producing more market-driven crops of high quality in a cost-effective and resilient manner which thing will upscale both the country’s socio-economy and further permit more investments into ESWADE.
