According to this report on Swaziland, drought (caused by poor rains in the last four seasons) and a high incidence of HIV/AIDS are both long-term crises that create vicious cycles of vulnerability, poverty, and food insecurity. This study was conducted to determine the effects of HIV/AIDS and drought on the local knowledge systems for agro-biodiversity and food security in Swaziland, as recent years have seen an increase in both types of disaster.


The study objectives are to:

1. Document the role/use of local knowledge and agro-biodiversity in mitigating against drought and HIV/AIDS.
2. Investigate the effects of drought and HIV/AIDS on local knowledge and agro-biodiversity.
3. Document the management of agro-biodiversity during drought.
4. Determine the use/role of local knowledge, and agro-biodiversity in emergency drought relief programmes.
5. Explore the gender dimensions of the impact of HIV/AIDS on food insecurity.

The livelihoods approach was used in this study to highlight the linkages between the impact of HIV/AIDS and drought on human, financial, and social capital. The study found that there are numerous impacts of HIV/AIDS and drought on the different livelihood assets; and the negative impacts are detrimental to food security and local knowledge for agro- biodiversity. The document outlines how the drought has affected local knowledge for agro-biodiversity and food security, such as causing a change in farming patterns, a decline in yield, and a change to drought resistant crops with which farmers have less experience.

According to the document, Swaziland has not yet recovered from the drought and is not likely to recover quickly, due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic that has exacerbated the situation. Because HIV/AIDS kills certain members of the family who have specific types of knowledge, those who are left behind will never gain this knowledge, if they have not yet had the opportunity to learn. Young orphans are particularly at a disadvantage because their parents die at a time when they are still too young to learn.

HIV/AIDS is also found to be more prevalent among the youth and able-bodied members of the communities; and increases in morbidity and mortality result in the loss of labour for household and agricultural purposes. In some communities, this results in less cultivated land or no cultivation at all. Households that fail to cultivate have no food available in their households and are food insecure. Due to illness and death, most of the finances are diverted to care for the sick, including medical bills, transportation, and, finally, funeral expenses. Moreover, households also experience a loss in income that may be coming into the household through remittances and off-farm employment.

The death of a household member results in a change in the roles and responsibilities of the surviving members. When a male member dies, women are forced to assume male roles and vice versa. In general, women bear the brunt of the burden, more so than men, given their dual responsibilities of productive and reproductive roles within the household. Caring for the sick is typically assigned to the women; and, therefore, the impact of illness in the household is felt more seriously when women are already assuming traditional male roles.

Gender analysis conducted by the research team reveals that there is a wealth of local knowledge about different aspects of the production and marketing of crops and livestock; and this knowledge is differentiated by gender roles. Additionally, when technology is involved, it is typically the male members of the households that hold the local knowledge; whereas the women hold knowledge about the practices of traditionally “female” activities such as hand ploughing and cooking.

The report states that cultural beliefs and practices play a significant role in determining local knowledge and are at the centre of rural life. There are beliefs and practices about livestock, crops, and natural resources that are thought to increase yield, prevent death, and conserve resources. Drought and the HIV/AIDS pandemic, however, are causing shifts in farming practices to those practices that are less labour intensive and to raising crops that produce better yields, have a higher nutritional content, are drought-resistant, and require more technology. These shifts are making the local knowledge obsolete.

These crises have led to the adoption of numerous mitigation and coping strategies, employed by the people in the study area. Mitigating and coping strategies are used once the crisis has hit and a family is trying to make best out of the current situation. For example, in order to mitigate against the drought conditions, most farmers have changed to cultivating drought resistant/tolerant crops and varieties. In other instances, farmers are engaged in non-agricultural initiatives, such as selling of firewood, producing and selling of handicraft, informal labour/part time employment, etc.

The communities studied have used the following strategies to deal with drought and HIV/AIDS: withdrawing children from school, reducing acreage, and switching to non-labour intensive crops in order to cope with labour shortages. They also sell livestock and other assets to cope with financial challenges. Migration to work in the South African mines and even begging by the elderly were also seen. However, these coping strategies are not sustainable as they pose a major challenge to households, that of poverty and failure to attain food security.

By addressing health care, nutrition labour shortages, and skills and knowledge retention, the document makes recommendations that could help to improve the communities’ human capital. Financial and social capital can be strengthened by promoting community-based initiatives that will build social support systems. Gender inequalities can also be reduced through increasing access to and ownership of resources and focusing extension messages to address the diverse gender roles in the household. Sustainable mitigation strategies will work to improve the communities’ abilities to cope with the negative effects of drought and HIV/AIDS and to lessen their impact on local knowledge and food security.

The document outlines specific recommendations for sharing skills and knowledge and bringing about gender equality, which can inform communication strategies of organisations working with affected rural communities. These recommendations include:

• Access to extension services via the Ministry of Agriculture, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the Deputy Prime Ministers (DPMs) office should be increased; and the extension messages should be directed to all members of the community.
• Skills training should be gender neutral; that is, both women and men can be trained in all skills, including men trained in clay pot making, home economics, etc., and women trained in carpentry, hide making, and tractor driving.
• Farmers should be encouraged to transfer agricultural knowledge to their spouses and children at the initial stage of family formation, so that they possess this knowledge and apply it when the need arises.
• Knowledge sharing among community members should also be encouraged, so that more than one person in the community has knowledge on certain practices.
• Capacity building programmes for communities on HIV/AIDS, nutrition, life skills - especially for youth, and group development could increase community knowledge about these issues.
• Legislation that will increase women's access to and ownership of resources, including credit for women, should be promoted.
• Design specific extension services to target specific issues that face women and youth.
• Seek to address inequities in cultural practices that make women more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.