An official in the Yei River County department of agriculture, environment, and forestry has said insecurity has crippled the large-scale growing of cassava and maize in large quantities.
According to Amos Lugala, the director of agriculture, forestry, and environment in the county, the farmers in the area in the past preferred to grow cassava and maize in large quantities because they could sell the produce.
“In Yei, the crops which you can see the farmers grow are cassava and maize which they can plan in large quantities. Cassava is good for the farmers because they can benefit when it comes to the market,” he explained. “Second is maize because this soil is good for maize. Although there are weeds, maize can still grow well.”
Lugala said the farmers who were engaged in large-scale cultivation of the two crops outside Yei town have been affected by insecurity.
“Our situation is not good. If we could move outside (town), people would love to cultivate on large farms because it can give them income. As I speak to you now, 10 kg of maize goes for SSP 5000 and cassava SSP 3000 in the market. That is why people like to plant cassava and maize,” he said. “Our rain in Yei starts in early March or April and the second season is in August when you can plant both crops.”
He added: “Farmers now plant for consumption only because of the small land and this is caused by insecurity unlike before where they planted for commercial use.”
According to Lugala, insecurity and farmers getting seeds and other inputs late have negatively impacted production in the area otherwise Yei can even supply neighboring areas and even Uganda.
Meanwhile, Edmond Taban Gogo, the director general of horticulture in Central Equatoria State, called on the agriculture department to educate the farmers through workshops.
“We as the ministry should create an attitude of educating the farmers at least through meetings with these farmers and workshops,” he said. “Yei has a history of agriculture and the people should make sure they get up. Those who do not know about agriculture should learn about it.”
Yei lies in the greenbelt and was a food basket producing a variety of crops before the 2013 conflict which saw many residents fleeing to neighboring Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for refuge.