Project Summary

Project General Description

The second phase of the Swaziland Lower Usuthu Basin Irrigation Scheme (LUSIP II) follows LUSIP I, which was approved on November 27, 2003 (and completed in 2010), following recognition. by the Government of the excellent opportunity offered by the natural resource potential of the lower Usuthu river basin. The entire LUSIP is aimed at diverting part of the Usuthu River's peak flow to a storage tank with a capacity of 155 million cubic meters out of the riverbed. The stored water would be used to irrigate 11,500 ha of downstream (two-phase) land for sugar cane production. For LUSIP II, it is an autonomous investment project that aims to increase agricultural production and household incomes in the Lower Usuthu Basin. The total cost of the project, net of taxes and duties, but including the vagaries of performance and the provision for price increase, is estimated at ZAR 2.01 billion (UA 104.15 million). It has four main components, namely: (i) Development of the main distribution network; (ii) Construction of the secondary irrigation network supplying the various irrigation blocks, each of which covers 100-700 ha; (iii) Agricultural Infrastructure Development; and iv) Project Coordination and Management.

Project Objectives

The goal of LUSIP II is to reduce poverty in the project area by transforming subsistence farmers into commercial farmers in the irrigated perimeters that produce both cash crops and cash crops (mainly sugar cane).

Beneficiaries

The direct beneficiaries of the project are households and agricultural producers in the project area (Usuthu Basin).

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