By Willliam Madouk
Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has partnered with Plan International to boost smart agriculture practices and empower local farmers for food-sufficient in the country.
Addressing the media after the signing of the MoU, the Undersecretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. John Ogoto Kanisio said they inked a deal that would shift the mind from food aid reliance to producers.
“We look at areas that we can do together food security, empowering our population especially women and children who are the main domain of Plan International,” said Kanisio.
“We look at how we can build resilience because our country has relied on food aid or food assistance for quite a long which undermines the growth,” he added.
He also revealed that the agriculture docket has a 25-year comprehensive master plan for agriculture development, livestock, fisheries, water and forestry just to mention but few.
“We believe we can transform agriculture from subsistence to surplus producer and even commercialized. We can export to those very countries we are importing from and beyond,” he noted.
Dr. Kanisio cited that this MoU would empower farmers, equip them with skills to produce more crops and get wealth that would make the country prosperous in the region.
“We want this country to become prosperous, we want to be counted as of the leading countries in this region, continent and in the world, and we can do it,”
Meanwhile, the Country Director of Plan International South Sudan, Mohamed Kamal, said “we are primarily mandated with promoting and protecting the rights of the children and women and when we talk about the protection of rights food security and agriculture come at the first priorities.”
He added that they would provide capacity building, distribution of seeds, and cash support to local farmers in the country.
“We will continue doing whatever we can to really improve the living conditions of the people of South Sudan,”
According to Kamal, the basis of MoU would be on two levels – first is the membership of the National taskforce for Water Resources and Agriculture ‘where we can move from being project-driven to program-driven.’
“We really need to develop a strategy how we can move the country to produce their own food and get introduced to smart agriculture. I think that is the main thing,”
Weeks ago, the National Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Albino Akol, said around nine million people in South Sudan will require critical humanitarian services in 2024.
Akol stated that out of the 9 million, 7.1 million need food assistance in the lean period with 1.65 million children being malnourished.