Africa-Press – Eswatini. EmaSwati, through the Lower Usuthu Smallholder Irrigation Project Phase I (LUSIP I), have continued to benefit immensely from the project even after EWADE had left it in their hands.
As such, a total of E33 604 522.19 was declared as dividends to 2 487 shareholders (in 44 sugar cane farmers’ companies) in the year 2022/2023, which is a 70.5 per cent increase from E19 374 810.20 declared in the year 2021/2022.
Dividends
According to the Eswatini Water and Agricultural Development Enterprise (EWADE), the significant increase was noted above from the increase of sugar cane revenue. It was reported that there were no dividends declared under the diversified businesses during this period as farms were still servicing their loan obligations. It is worth noting that LUSIP I has reached the end of its project life and has since been handed over to the farmers. The goal of the project was to reduce poverty and sustain improvement in the standard of living of the population in the project area through commercialisation and intensification of agriculture.
To date, the LUSIP I has formed and registered 98 farmer groups and of these, 56 are operational sugar cane farmer companies, three Banana farms, 1 Livestock farm and four (high value crop and horticulture project (HVCHP) operational farmer companies. A total of 6 261.6ha has been developed for agricultural production against the target of 6 500ha. This total is made up of 5 017.9 ha for sugar cane and 1 243.7ha for alternative crops which include banana, pitaya, papaya and vegetables (greenhouse tunnels and piggeries).
Season
The total area of sugar cane harvested for the 2022/2023 season was 5 027.02ha compared to 4 949.6 ha harvested in 2021/2022. This reportedly showed an increase of 1.6 per cent of area harvested. The 5 027.02ha produced 459 453.70 tonnes of cane which is a 1.6 per cent increase from the previous year’s performance of 452 361. This was mainly due to the increase in the area harvested which yielded more cane. The average yields for LUSIP I farmers in 2022/2023 stood at 94.79 tonnes cane per ha (TCH) (2021: 91.4 TCH), and 13.6 per cent sucrose (2021:13.0 per cent). The gross revenue from sugar cane was E434 169 870.04 calculated at E4 833.59 at estimate 5/6 (before tax), which was an increase by 83 per cent from E237 209 607.03 (before tax) reported in the year 2021/2022.
Revenue
The significant increase in recorded revenue was due to the increase in price/ tonne of sugar cane (2022: E4 833.59 from 2021: E4 230.70) together with the sucrose levels which increased from 13.0 to 13.6 per cent. The gross revenue from diversified agribusinesses under this reporting period was E8 491 437.76, a 15.9 per cent increase from E7 323 663 reported in the year 2021/2022. This was due to more areas developed, planted and harvested under banana (73.1ha harvested in 2021 to 91.4ha in 2022) which attracted high returns (from E3 200/tonne in 2021 to E4 200/tonne in 2022).
For More News And Analysis About Eswatini Follow Africa-Press
