A major agricultural project in South Sudan’s Lakes State has been praised for increasing crop yields and fostering peace between communities, according to the charity implementing it.
The Catholic Relief Services (CRS), funded by Global Affairs Canada, said its three-year agro-pastoralist scheme had provided seeds, tools and training to farmers.
CRS Country Manager Dr Tapfuma Marobe told Radio Tamazuj on Friday that the initiative also focused on “livelihood support, peace building and gender.”
During a visit with donors this week to project sites in Akot and Aluakluak, officials saw farmers harvesting short-term crop varieties.
One beneficiary, Amuong Maker, said her group received an ox plough and seeds last year, allowing them to cultivate 150 feddan of land.
“We sold the produce and bought more plough bulls,” she said. “Now we farm 250 feddan.”
Local chiefs and ministers highlighted the project’s wider impact.
Paramount Chief Malak Alony Malak of Aluakluak Payam said CRS had “changed their lives” by teaching cultivation and supporting women-owned businesses like restaurants, which had “created peaceful coexistence.”
Lakes State Minister for Gender, Child and Social Welfare, Angelina Mario, called it “a good achievement and a step for women towards development and self-reliance.”
The project is run in partnership with the state’s ministries of Gender, Agriculture, and Peace Building. Dr Marobe stressed the agency was committed to the region and sought further funding to expand the work.
“Peace building programmes have highlighted the importance of communal coexistence,” he said, noting improved relations between different communities.
Director General for the State Ministry of Agriculture, Matur Chol Marial, commended the progress, while local leaders appealed for the project to be extended to neighbouring Paloc and Ger payams.