BY BUSINESS EDITOR
MBABANE – The National Agricultural Marketing Board (NAMBOARD) has called upon local mango farmers to register on EHIS to access local markets.
EHIS is a platform which enables both farmers and buyers to access produce as well as know when said produce will be made available or ready.
NAMBOARD said In line with our Market Facilitation Program, NAMBoard invites mango farmers to register on EHIS. Registration closes on the 5th of January 2024 at noon.
They said forms can be downloaded at the following Link: https://forms.gle/ZKeTM61Fo5KVdX7A6
Worth noting, NamBoard in collaboration with Eswatini Water and Agricultural Development Enterprise (EWADE), through the Smallholder Market-Led Project (SMLP), will be hosting the second Horticulture Innovation Platform.
This was mentioned by NamBoard Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bhekizwe Maziya in a statement last year. Maziya said smallholder farmers often lacked access to profitable, value-added markets. He said this was in the absence of critical supporting functions such as infrastructure, service provision and access to funding, farmers struggle to transform from subsistence and small-scale farming to sustainable commercial farming.
The CEO said some of the major contributors to these challenges were the low economies of scale, lack of awareness of market demands, inadequate technical expertise on agronomic practices and quality of produce required, as well as poor infrastructure leading to high production costs.
“A market-led approach to developing the agricultural smallholder sector requires an up-front analysis of skills, knowledge and capacity in order to engage in various value chain activities, such as production, financing, extension services, valued addition and marketing,” he added.
The CEO also mentioned that Eswatini is endowed with enabling climatic conditions to consistently produce high-quality horticultural crops throughout the year. He said a well-coordinated horticultural value chain production in Eswatini has the potential to improve the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) through import substitution and export promotion.
“As an organisation with the mandate to promote local production, which will lead to sustainable food security in the country it has become evident to NAMBoard that there is a need for interventions to address the challenges based on the current economic landscape in order to inform production for markets,” said Maziya.
He alluded that it was also evident that existing market opportunities were the driver for investment in production systems, market linkages, and conservation of soil and water resources. Maziya said the production of commodities, suitable both for household nutrition and market supply would be enhanced; as will the linkage between markets and producers, resulting in improved food security and sustainable incomes.
