A number of farmers in northern Upper Nile have said that pests and worms ruined their cultivation of sesame and sorghum.
Deng Kur, the deputy secretary-general for the union of mechanized farmers in Renk County, told Radio Tamazuj that agricultural pests including worms invaded the northern Upper Nile region and almost entirely destroyed the sesame and sorghum crops in the region.
Kur said that the production of those crops this season was not successful due to the agriculture pests that invaded the region and wiped out the crops.
He pointed out that farmers notified the authorities concerned before these pests attacked their crops, whereupon the state authorities informed the national agriculture ministry, department of crops and trees protection in Juba, but there was no quick move toward resolving the issue, till the pests destroyed their crops.
The farmers were expecting a large harvest of sesame and sorghum this year owing to plentiful rains.
Kur blamed the authorities in the ministry of agriculture for the losses due to their delay in sending the spraying planes and pesticides.