As the sun’s first rays highlight the sugar cane fields, Dumisani Matsenjw pauses to take in the view. The tall perennial grasses stretch as far as the eye can see. When it’s time to harvest, the stalks will be cut and sent to processing plants where they will be crushed to release sweet fluid which will ultimately be processed into the sweet white granules that arefound in many of our foods and drink.
Matsenjw is farmer and secretary of Maphobeni Farmers Association in Swaziland and this sweet substance is his’s and thousands of other farmer’s lifeblood, but recent developments in EU trade policy areset to sour his community’s circumstances forever. The removal of limits on EU beet sugar production from 2017 will likely push 200,000 farmers and families like Dumisani’s into a life of poverty. This comes at a time when UN member states are set to sign up to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at a summit from 25-27 September in New York, a global framework designed to contribute to the alleviation of poverty.
“The EU encouraged us to grow sugar, now they have changed their minds and left us behind. I’ll have to start farming something else,” Dumisani says. “Sugar cane was once called Swazi gold. But as time goes on and prices reduce, we don’t feel like we are holding gold.”
Dumisani, 39% of Swaziland’s sugar is exported to Europe. Considering the changes in policy which will reduce the demand for imported sugar, how will this affect you and your family?
This news came as a shock to me and other farmers in this community. We were hoping that we could somehow generate more income, but hearing about these changes in Europe has created fear in our hearts. We’re starting to ask ourselves why we even bother to continue farming, as there doesn’t seem to be a future for sugar cane at all.
We were hoping the Swazi government could speak to the EU to raise the issue with them and make a difference, but it seems too late for that. Without our sugar, we have nothing else to live off, no other means to feed ourselves. Selling the sugar generates an income for us, which allows me to feed my family. If we can no longer generate an income this way, it means we would have to start growing our own food as we would no longer be able to buy it.
From what you’re saying, it sounds like the impact on the community will have far-reaching implications for sugar farming.
As time goes on and with all the new regulations put in place the prices are being reduced to a point where we no longer feel that our crops are gold. It no longer feels like we’re holding gold in our hands. Instead, it feels like we’re walking down a very dark tunnel with no light to show us where we’re going. Ironically, we might have to leave our farms behind to go work on the gold mines in other countries which means we will have to leave our families behind.
If you had an opportunity to send a message to European politicians and the UK public about the importance of sugar cane to you and your family and your community, what would that be?
I would ask them to have empathy towards the Swazi farmers and their families, to feel for us poor Africans, to think of us in this time. Instead of continuing down this road that will destroy our livelihoods, the European and UK public should think about us and how the dropping prices will affect us. Innocent people are suffering because of these trade policies.
The Fairtrade Foundation’s Show Your Hand campaign is mobilising Fairtrade supporters up and down the country to raise the issue of trade incoherency with the Prime Minister and demand he acts now to make trade fair. From 17 September members of the public can sign our online petition.
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