Service

Among the challenges facing the government of Swaziland is that of ensuring that food sufficiency is attained on a sustainable basis for the populace of the country. Agricultural productivity is expected to increase while the production area is continuously on the decrease. Droughts and erratic rainfall due to climate change are threats to agriculture and hence food security to a majority of the African population, Swaziland inclusive. Water stress has been described as one of the major factors limiting agricultural production.  Part of the strategies to increase productivity is to ensure that water resources received in the form of precipitation or irrigation is used optimally “more crop per drop of water”. The government of Swaziland has put in its priorities the harnessing of water through dams to supply water for irrigation particularly in the drought prone areas of the country. To align with this priority area, the Department of Agricultural Research and Specialists Services (DARSS) of the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) is in the process of establishing a section to look into ways of increasing the efficiency of water use in Agriculture, particularly irrigation down-stream to the harvested water.
The section is mandated to ensure that water as a resource in agriculture (irrigation) is used more efficiently (optimally) through use of appropriate irrigation technologies and determining specific crop water requirements of different crop varieties. This section is expected to establish water harvesting technologies to enhance crop production especially in the low rainfall areas of the country. Selection of drought tolerant varieties of all crops is also expected from this section.

Who can apply for the service

• Citizens

How to apply for the service

• The Agricultural Research Division works through the Extension department.
• As soon as the Research Division has a new innovation it consults with the Extension department who will then formulate ways to reach the people in the communities.
• The Extension Department will call meetings and disperse the innovation to the community members.

Where and How to apply for the service

• The person interested in the innovation must always be in touch with the Extension Officer in his/her community.

How much for the service

 Currently it is free