Lubombo Region

Lubombo is Eswatini's eastern lowveld region—a drought-prone territory along the Mozambique border where water scarcity defines both agricultural potential and humanitarian vulnerability. The region has only 60.6% electricity access (versus 86% nationally), constraining agricultural modernization in an area where smallholder farming dominates. IPC food security classifications show the Lubombo Plateau with 11,640 people in Phase 3+ (crisis or worse) projected to rise to 13,970 by 2025, including 2,328 in Phase 4 (emergency). The Multidimensional Poverty Index registers 9.9% headcount with 24% vulnerable—among the kingdom's highest rates. High unemployment, loss of purchasing power, and rising food prices compound climate stress. The World Bank and government have prioritized Lubombo as a development focus area, with the Sustainable Market-Led Program (SMLP) reaching over 71,000 beneficiaries (82% female-headed households) across Lubombo, Manzini, and Shiselweni. Average maize yields of 1.2 tons/hectare (2024) keep most smallholders near subsistence levels. The region's challenge: how to develop an area that climate change is making less hospitable, while Eswatini's economic core concentrates further in the Manzini-Mbabane corridor.