Swaziland imports R800m in dairy

MBABANE – Swaziland
has imported at least
R800 million in dairy
products from South
Africa over the past year,
evidence of the country’s
failing agricultural sector.
Cheese made up R80
million of the total, all
moving by road.
The market
fundamentals are unlikely
to change any time soon,
and the country’s dairy
consumers will remain
dependent on South
African dairies for their
milk products.
Swaziland has
an agriculturebased
economy, but
economists note that this
classification is not based
on overall production
but is only because one
product, sugar cane, is
the country’s top export
revenue earner and more
than 70% of Swazis
list agriculture as their
livelihoods. However, these
are subsistence farmers
who rarely grow more than
they can consume, leaving
nothing for the market
including the output of
their cows.
Another irony – or a
symptom of the failure of
government to bring the
agriculture sector into
the modern age – is that
Swaziland also imports
R100 million in maize
products annually from
South Africa. Maize has
been the national staple
food since Portuguese
traders introduced the crop
in the early 19th century.
Due to an unproductive
farming system, the
country runs perennially
short of its staple crop,
and for three decades
has been food insecure.
During drought years a
third of Swazis
are dependent on
food aid. Maize
is also trucked
in, although some
emergency food
relief during times
of impending famine
is moved by rail by
humanitarian agencies.