MBABANE – In order to address land degradation, the Ministry of Agriculture has launched the National Action Plan Great Green Wall Initiative.
Speaking about the Initiative, Minister of Agriculture Jabulani Mabuza said, “We’re addressing land degradation and climate change issues and how they affect the earth. The action plan will also look at the loss of biodiversity and how we can prevent that. It’ll also address drought and lack of water to ensure that crops as well as livestock can thrive. The document will also address food insecrity so you don’t find people lacking food. We’ll also address unemployment in the action plan.”
The National Action Plan Great Green Wall Initiative targets to rehabilitate and restore 500,000 hectares of land in the next 10 years.
Echoing the Minister’s sentiments was SADC Senior Programme Officer for the Environment and the Climate, Sibongile Mavimbela. “Our programme to fix land degradation as well as creating jobs for unemployed youth, will try to increase the amount of food. We’ll also try to restore water in places where there are shortages. We’ll also try and restore eroded riverside,” revealed Mavimbela. She added that they will have an annual monitoring to ensure that the programme is going well. She also revealed that the Initiative is currently active in 16 SADC countries.
