Seed audit project scores ace for rural Eswatini farmers

By Phathizwe Zulu

MANZINI, Eswatini (AA) - Erratic rainfall and prolonged drought have forced rural farmers to plant indigenous seeds to feed their families in Eswatini.

For decades, subsistence farmers have been hit with losses during harvesting season because of excessive heat and minimal rainfall, pushing thousands to rely on food aid.

To help women cope with the situation, the Swaziland Rural Women Assembly embarked on a community project to encourage the use of indigenous seeds as a solution to adapt to the challenges of climate change.

The NGO operates in 10 Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries. Its objective is to help rural women and girls to be resilient and competent to face developmental challenges.

Over the years, the organization has been assisting women farmers to have sustainable livelihoods and encouraging domesticate wild vegetables.

The project also seeks to resuscitate the old Swazi culture of sharing seeds.

- Farmer’s conscious decision

Thoko Dlamini, 63, is among hundreds of female farmers who have benefited from the program.

She lives in Shiselweni in the south, a region that receives 42.85 millimeters (1.7 inches) of precipitation and 95 rainy days annually.

Dlamini abandoned growing hybrid seeds and prefers to grow indigenous maize and sorghum varieties.

“I now use indigenous varieties of legumes, maize and sorghum. I have the umnyan’ubovu (the red cob with eight lines) and the purple umnyasa (Zea mays L.) and the indigenous yellow maize that matures in three months. Also, I have umshalane sorghum (MACIA, a Shona sorghum variety) which is not easily eaten by birds because of its flexibility. It protects itself by bending when birds try to land on it,” she said.

Dlamini said the advantage of indigenous seeds, especially maize which is a staple crop, is the ability to endure tough drought conditions.

“Even when hit by serious drought, I manage to get a yield however small it might be. But I don’t return from the fields empty-handed.

“I recommend that we grow indigenous seeds. They are able to withstand drought situations,” she said. “I have realized that we do have indigenous varieties that mature faster than the exotic seeds. Like the yellow maize. It takes three months while the hybrid variety takes five months to mature.”

- Traditions can inform adaptation strategies

Rural Women Assembly Climate Change Desk Coordinator, Nonhlanhla Mthethwa, said the indigenous seed project is a climate change adaptation strategy. The project helps women achieve three sustainable development goals.

“The seed audit project’s objective is to end poverty, end hunger and take action to combat climate change and its impacts. Rural women should be assisted to adapt to climate change challenges and be economically empowered to produce their food cheaply in order to sustain their livelihoods.

“We also capacitated the farmers to make organic manure because chemical fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides end up contaminating the river ecosystems,” she said.

Mthethwa said traditional seeds should be protected and the cultural systems that preserve seed-sharing be revived. In Swazi, culture parents of the bride would give their daughter seeds to grow at her marital homestead.

“I got married 38 years ago but I am still planting the same maize and sorghum varieties my parents gave me when I was joining my matrimonial family,” said Mthethwa. “Through this practice, we managed to get the original varieties from such women. We really need to revive this custom.”

- Policy and research

According to an IFAD-Oxfam study, farmers’ seed and formal seed systems are important. “For example, farmers’ seed systems offer seeds exhibiting high levels of diversity well adapted to local conditions, which can help to cope with climate change, while formal seed systems offer seeds that may be of higher quality or have new and important traits relating to yield and resistance,” noted the study.

It said most seeds produced by farmers circulate within farmers’ seed systems.

The balance between farmers’ seed systems and the commercial seed sector varies between and within countries, regions and crops.

But Mthethwa criticized Eswatini’s national seed policy because it does not recognize indigenous seeds.

She said her organization will lobby the Ministry of Agriculture to have an appropriate seed policy.

Lecturer and researcher at the University of Eswatini, Victor Simelane, disputed Mthethwa’s assertion.

“National and regional seed policies do recognize improved indigenous varieties also called ‘Open Pollinated Varieties’ provided they have morphological descriptors differentiating them from other varieties and have a valid name,” said Simelane.

The World Bank, in its knowledge portal, highlighted that Eswatini has identified four key sectors at risk to climate change that have been prioritized in adaptation strategies: agriculture, water, biodiversity and ecosystems.