Several activists in Central Equatoria State Yei River County have appealed to the government to invest in farming and support the agriculture sector in the county and the country at large.
As the country experiences the worst inflation in years that has seen commodity prices skyrocket, life has become unbearable for the most vulnerable in the country.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday, an activist in Yei popularly known as Mama Hawa Adams, said the government should support food production to ensure that the country’s population is food secure.
“The children, women, and men of South Sudan are desperate and when you look at the current situation, food is not enough for everybody,” she says. “Everybody is complaining that their salary is not enough and that there is no money. However, we are appealing as women of Yei, Central Equatoria, and South Sudan to the government to support the agriculture sector so that we become self-reliant and food secure.”
Adams also contends that the government should improve security in the country to stimulate agriculture.
“The government should ensure that there is security in the nation to allow agricultural activities,” she recommended. People should also be trained on food security to avoid dependency on the World Food Programme (WFP) and other humanitarian agencies because it creates dependency and laziness.
Another activist in Yei, Yeka Joel, said the rainy season has started and feeder roads should be repaired to take produce to the market.
“The roads were in a bad state and impassable in the dry season. With the rains starting, they will now get blocked so the government needs to prioritize the rehabilitation of the roads,” he stated. “If the roads are improved, farmers and traders can take their produce to the market and food prices will reduce in the towns.”
“If there is support for agriculture and roads are improved, we can eradicate hunger in Yei and the rest of the country,” Yeka added.
Meanwhile, the executive director of Yei River County, Ezbon Gale, attributes poor agriculture production in the country to a lack of mechanization and poor post-harvest handling of produce which leads to losses.
‘“We are part of the East African Community (EAC) and the farmers in the neighboring countries have got a competitive advantage in terms of technology and food production. They have value addition in terms of processing packing and branding. All these capacities are missing here and our produce is just sold raw with low value,” he explained. “Our farmers suffer and later fetch small (profit) margins. Also, the produce goes bad if not sold in time. There is no proper crop protection in the field and poor storage of produce that is why you should speed up to sell your maize before it is destroyed by weevils.”
“Our people are not relief-oriented and only require farm tools to restart their lives and become self-reliant and food secure,” Gale added.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), food insecurity in South Sudan is driven by conflicts and insecurity, a macroeconomic crisis caused by the depreciation of the local currency and the conflict in neighboring Sudan.