Developers versus food security

Prime agricultural land is being earmarked for a housing development by private business, prompting Swaziland's first widespread debate on environmental issues.



Swaziland, ruled by sub-Saharan's last absolute monarch, King Mswati III, relies on food donations to feed a quarter of its one million people, but in 2008 this figure rose to nearly half the population as a result of drought.



"The controversy is about permanently removing excellent crop land from use in a country seeking food self-sufficiency, but it's also highlighted the damage that ensues when a country develops without a guiding land-use policy," Kevin Dlamini, an environmental consultant, told IRIN.



Three separate housing developments are being planned in Malkerns Valley, 25km southeast of the capital, Mbabane, where a canal designed to irrigate farmland for commercial agricultural production was built after independence in 1968.



"Converting this prime agricultural land into a residential area would render useless the very fertile soil suitable for the production of a number of crops, vegetables and livestock," agricultural consultant Sipho Shongwe told IRIN. "Further, an expensive agricultural infrastructure that has served the area for years will become worthless."



An environmental group opposed to the developments, Yonge Nawe, (SiSwati for preserve your surroundings), said if the projects went ahead they "would seriously undermine government's policies for attaining food security and sustainable development."



The Malkerns irrigation system operates by the force of gravity, negating the need for electrical or fossil fuel power and winning the plaudits of environmentalists.



If the projects go ahead, fields of pineapples, maize and sugar cane as well as many fruit and vegetable gardens will be wiped out, and the irrigation system will fall into disrepair.



The geographical position of the valley, which is close to both Mbabane and the country's main commercial hub, Manzini, makes it an ideal food-producing centre, with reduced freight costs and ready access to markets.



On the flipside, the Malkerns Valley is also ideal as a business and government commuter belt, with a well-developed road network connecting the country's main urban centres.



"This area has probably the best soil for agriculture in the country," and developing it would threaten national food security, said Mtiti Fakudze, Swaziland's former agriculture minister.



No decision yet



The final decision rests with the tourism and environmental minister, who has as yet given no indication of which way he will rule. A public hearing is being called this week by the Swaziland Environmental Authority because of unprecedented public concern over how this extremely valuable tract of land should be used.

High food prices and persistent food shortages have made people aware that we can't take food production for granted. There is lots of land suitable for housing development that is not suitable for agriculture

"High food prices and persistent food shortages have made people aware that we can't take food production for granted. There is lots of land suitable for housing development that is not suitable for agriculture," Dlamini said.



Umbane, one of the developers of a proposed housing scheme in Malkerns, considers the matter settled. "We bought the land; it was a legal transaction. The people residing on the land are squatters," a source close to the project told IRIN.



People who have lived in the area for generations at the behest of previous landowners are facing eviction as developers prepare to convert nearly 600 hectares of agriculture land into housing, shopping centres and churches.



The debate is taking place in a land-use policy vacuum. "Policy-makers have not taken urbanization seriously," said Dlamini. "Development will continue haphazardly, at ... cost to the environment and food security, until guidelines are in place indicating where certain development is permissible."



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