By Tereza Jeremiah Chuei
The National Minister of Labour, James Hoth Mai has called on the cattle owners to start converting their cattle wealth into other commercial investments, rather than using them only for paying dowries.
Minister Mai made his appeal to the wealthy cattle keepers in the country while speaking during graduation ceremony of over 500 young people who attained vocational skills in different technical works.
The minister stated during his remarks at the event that cattle should be used in various ways, citing suggestion such as the animals skins and hides being used and as raw material in factories.
Hoth however asked the partners like United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Embassy of Netherlands among other delegates present at the graduation and supporting developmental activities to consider granting some funds to support areas of food processing in South Sudan.
“We need to invest in food processing, like in South Sudan for example, we have about thirteen million cattle’s, of course some of them are being used for pride, giving them to in-laws, three hundred, two hundred,” Hoth Mai underlined.
“But we need to encourage our people to use this wealth for commercial gains, we can do cheese, we have skin and hides, in this country, we can make shoes, we can make belt, we can make everything, here in this country,” he reiterated the potentials the cow could bring to the nation.
Meanwhile, minister Hoth stressed that producing their own {South Sudan} product should be the starting point of every graduates that acquired skills rather than waiting for white-colour Job.