A minister with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement faction in Juba (SPLM-Juba), which controls the government, said his ministry is planning to conduct a livestock census.
The livestock survey to be carried out every 10 years will be used as a projection and planning tool for the sector, which has continued to use estimations for available livestock in the country.
Minister of Agriculture Beda Machar said on Monday that the statistics would also help the government in areas where stocking and restocking was required.
“We have always had estimates as government, and unfortunately, even in the private sector, we have not had a solid baseline status on livestock. We want to have a comprehensive livestock census and we will do it with the national bureau of statistics office,” he said.
Machar said a task force to spearhead the process has already been put in place and a roadmap had been drawn already.
“The work of the task force had been affected by the current conflict; otherwise, it would have started in 2013. But we hope to do it because it is very important to know the population of our livestock for economic reasons,” Machar explained.
Related:
South Sudan’s livestock crisis (21 Dec. 2014)