Gabriel Leonte, the Head of Cooperation at the European Union (EU) Delegation to South Sudan has revealed that the European body is planning to spend 83 million euros on implementing resilient farming projects in South Sudan.
Leonte was on Tuesday speaking during the commencement of the fourteenth quarterly review meeting by the European Union’s rural development program in South Sudan.
“It is important to mention that we are preparing a new agriculture program, quite a large one with about 83 million euros for the coming years. This is our proposal and of course, we are coordinating with our headquarters and we will see what the results will be,” he said. “I would like to emphasize that discussing lessons learned from the past programs and focusing on the opportunities for the future is key and I encourage you to pay particular attention to this aspect of the workshop because the outcome of this workshop will help inform the development of the program.”
The EU official further said that he hoped the three-day meeting will help shape EU programs in South Sudan.
“We do hope that this event will provide a real platform for discussions and debates that will shape the EU programs, benefiting millions of women, men, children, and youth in South Sudan who currently, unfortunately, face unemployment and have to deal with extreme challenges posed by weather conditions but also by insecurity,” Leonte added.
For his part, the Director General at South Sudan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Loro George Leju Lugor, said food insecurity in the country is caused by both climate change and insecurity.
“For the past several years, we have seen that the rain does not begin in March, it may begin in May or June, cutting down the production and productivity of the crops. The other challenge that we have is insecurity that has been bothering this country,” he said. “The other challenge that we have also seen is the deforestation that is going on and it is a big issue for us here. People are cutting down trees indiscriminately and this also affects the weather position in this country.”
The implementing partners involved in the European Union’s rural development program in South Sudan are the ministry of agriculture and food security, UNOPS, and FAO among others.