BY GCWALISILE MHLABANE
MANZINI – A seedling may look like a small part of the farming process, but authorities say what happens at nursery level can determine whether Eswatini produce eventually reaches the market or gets rejected.
That concern has prompted the National Agricultural Marketing Board (NAMBOARD), together with the Malkerns Research Centre, to tighten controls around plant nurseries as the country seeks to improve the quality and safety of agricultural produce.
Nursery operators from around the country were engaged at Alcon House in Manzini on September 24, 2026, where discussions centred on nursery registration, chemical use and the need to improve standards from the earliest stage of food production.
The intervention comes after some Eswatini agricultural products were rejected in markets because chemical residues were detected in them.
NAMBOARD Chief Executive Officer Bhekizwe Maziya said this was a worrying development for a country looking to grow its agricultural sector and reach more markets.
“Some of our produce gets rejected in the market because of chemical residues found in it. This is not good for our agriculture sector,” Maziya said.
For NAMBOARD, the solution cannot only come when vegetables or other produce are ready for sale. It has to begin where the plants themselves begin — at the nursery.
“Nursery registration is vital for quality assurance,” Maziya said.
Under the registration exercise, authorities want to know where nurseries are located, who operates them and whether they are following acceptable plant-health, chemical and biosecurity practices.
The programme will also help improve traceability.
This means that, should a problem be detected later in the production chain, authorities would be in a better position to trace seedlings back to the nursery where they originated.
Principal Plant Health and Protection Officer for the National Plant Protection Organisation under the Ministry of Agriculture, Bheki Nzima, said registering nurseries would bring greater organisation to a sector that plays a critical role in agriculture.
“The registration of nurseries is very important because we need to know where these nurseries are and who is operating them,” Nzima said.
He explained that registration would also open the way for certification of nurseries that meet the required standards.
“Once we have identified and registered the nurseries, we can then certify those that meet the required standards,” he said.
For farmers, this could mean greater confidence when buying seedlings, knowing that the nursery supplying them has been identified and assessed.
Nurseries, on the other hand, would have a clearer set of standards to follow in protecting plant health and producing seedlings that meet market expectations.
Nosizo Ngwenya of GreenWay Nursery in Mpolonjeni, Mbabane, welcomed the initiative, saying good operational and biosecurity practices were important for nursery businesses.
“Having proper operational and biosecurity practices is important for us as nursery operators,” Ngwenya said.
She said proper systems could help nurseries improve the seedlings they sell while also protecting their businesses.
“Such systems help us improve the quality of our seedlings, protect our businesses and make sure that we comply with the requirements of the market,” she said.
The registration programme comes at a time when Eswatini is seeking to strengthen its agricultural value chain and improve its ability to compete in regional and international markets.
For farmers hoping to sell beyond the farm gate, compliance has become increasingly important. A problem that starts with a seedling can eventually affect an entire crop and, in some cases, close the door to a market.
That is why authorities are shifting more attention to the beginning of the production chain.
The message from the Manzini engagement was simple: protecting the reputation of Eswatini produce starts well before harvesting.
It starts at the nursery.
(Courtesy Pic)
