The Farmers’ Cooperative Association of Marial-Baai Payam of Jur River County in Western Bahr el Ghazal state on Wednesday received farm equipment from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Speaking during the handing over of the equipment in Marial-Bai, FAO head of field office in Wau, Joseph Matere said the pieces of equipment were part of a request by the farmers.
“Last week I was here with the seeds cleaner and I promised that this week I will come with more equipment, today we have come to fulfill that promise. We brought you a power tiler for digging your land, we have also brought you a machine for making groundnut paste,” said Matere. “We have also brought you machine for milling maize, millet, sorghum, and then we have brought you equipment for harvesting honey including cloth for women’s wear so that the bees cannot attack them.”
Matere also mentioned the FAO has also provided the farmers with a tuk-tuk, an auto-rickshaw, for transportation purposes.
“The ministry of agriculture is saying we should eat what we produce, that is the slogan not import what we eat. That is what FAO is following here by supporting this group,” he noted.
For his part, the chairperson of the payam cooperative association Albino Akol Akol welcomed the support.
“On behalf of the cooperative and as the chairperson of the association, we welcome the assistance and we are still requesting them to help us in constructing a concrete store because our groundnut goes bad because of termites,” he appealed.
Akol said the tuk-tuk will help the farmers in getting their produce to the market for sale.
Meanwhile, Arkangelo Anyar Anyar, the state minister for cabinet affairs who was at the event acknowledged the support by FAO and called on the organization to offer capacity building to the farmers.