The head of the association of farmers in Western Bahr el Ghazal State has called upon Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to buy agricultural seeds from farmers’ groups within the country.
Speaking at a trade show organized by War Child Canada in Wau on Thursday, Santino Manud Akec said some of the imported seeds do not germinate.
“The organizations bring us seeds from outside, but I want to tell our government to work together with the organizations because the imported seeds are not working here in our soil,” Akec said. “I want to inform the organizations that we now have so many cooperatives, some of which have 1,500 sacks of groundnuts and 1,000 sacks of sorghum and they have no buyers.”
“So, the NGOs are supposed to buy seeds and food from us and not import them,” he added. Responding to Akech, the War Child Canada’s director in the state, Mathew Lec, urged the local cooperatives to organize themselves and bring forward their complaints to the organization.
“Together, you have to inform War Child Canada about the whereabouts of your seeds, and we will ensure that your seeds find a market,” said Lec. “The War Child Canada program has two years left and we are asking if we have achieved anything and the areas we need to improve. We want to sustain the program that we have started.”
On his part, the state minister of trade and cooperatives, Andel Wadhalla Nasir, thanked War Child Canada for supporting the agricultural sector in the state.
“War Child Canada has done something very wonderful, and today, the success of cooperatives is being displayed in Western Bahr el Ghazal State,” he said. “We need our cooperatives to grow.”
Nasir said the state government is working very closely with other partners to improve the quality of produce in the state.