Farmers in Pochalla County of the Greater Pibor Administrative Area said they cannot get to their fields because of insecurity.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Saturday, several farmers cited lack of farm inputs and insecurity as major threats to farming in the area.
Abui Odol, a local farmer, said seeds are lacking since last year’s devastating floods in the area hampered harvests of planted crops.
“This year, rains started well. Our problem now is that we lack seeds of sorghum, maize, okra, among others. If there will be no floods this year and we receive seeds from the government or aid agencies, then we will have enough food after some months,” she explained.
Philip Okwer, another farmer, said he is lacking tools and equipment. “We lack farm tools and sometimes we need tractors because our bodies get weak. Regarding the tractors that were donated by the president, we don’t have any here in Pochalla,” he added.
Okwata Ogalla, on the other hand, urged the government to improve security, saying local farmers mainly focus on protection instead of farming.
Thiopia Ojulo, a former county commissioner, said more than 3,000 farmers have already cleared their farmlands, but lack seeds to plant.
“Our farmers lack seeds because of last year’s crop failures. We appeal to the government and aid agencies to give us seeds. Now, only some traders began importing seeds from Ethiopia, but they are very expensive,” he explained.
Munira Abdel-Wahab Suleiman, a lawmaker representing the county in the country’s national legislative assembly, said farmers in the greater Pochalla are abandoning their farms due to insecurity.
“Over the last two weeks, three farmers were killed in my county. We don’t have police in the area and so local residents provide protection for themselves. Also, there is hunger because Pochalla is cut off from the rest of South Sudan by road and there has been no air dropping of food due to the COVID-19 outbreak,” she said.
The legislator appealed to the national government and aid agencies to intervene before the situation worsens in the county.