The Abyei Area’s ministry of agriculture has said this year’s farming will be affected because only two of its seven tractors are functional.

Acting Director Ayuel Deng Chol told Abyei Today programme on Wednesday that the ministry lacks spare parts and money to repair the five tractors that have been grounded.

He further said farmers will continue to provide fuel but have to pay 30 SSP as running costs per feddan. Ayuel added that one of the tractors will be operating north of the Kiir river and the other south of the river.

Meanwhile, the chair of the pastoralists’ union Dier Nyok Pajol says he has been liaising with pastoralists from Warrap to see if they could graze their animals further afield, in order to avoid damage to crops by cattle.

Mangok Kur Dar said farmers had agreed to make fences for their farms to protect crops from the animals. Zachariah Tobi Adok, the acting Executive Director of the Agok Administration Unit said the local authorities had agreed that cattle keepers could be fined if their animals destroyed a farmer’s plants.

In other news from Abyei, former Ngok Dinka paramount chief Kuol Deng Koul, known as Koul Thiith, died on Monday after a long illness. 

He was buried on Wednesday in Abyei town. Kuol Thiith who died at age 76 became a paramount chief in 1970 to 1972 replacing Moyak Deng. Koul Thiith was replaced by Koul Deng Koul, the chief killed last year in Abyei.