Social distancing is not a problem for farmers in Aweil, but they face other challenges caused by restricted movements to prevent COVID-19.
EMMANUEL KELE/DENG MOU
As the Coronavirus spreads globally, farmers in the Aweil area of Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal are not exempted from the impact: preventive measures taken by the government make cultivating land difficult.
While social distancing may be easier to practice on a farm, far away from densely populated towns, COVID-19 affects everyone.
“These restrictions of movements are bad for me because agricultural materials such as seeds, fertilizers and insecticides come from Sudan,” says the 60-year-old farmer Garang Bol who owns seven feddans (slightly more than seven acres) of farmland in the northern part of Aweil town. “These materials are no longer arriving here due to the closure of the South Sudan-Sudan borders,” he explains.
Local authorities in Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal have recently established a COVID-19 Taskforce Committee to control and restrict movements, including the flow of commercial trucks across the border, and to conduct media awareness on the virus.
However, local authorities say that the transportation of vital commodities will not be subject to such restrictions.
“We have exempted essential goods. Otherwise, only a truck driver and his two assistants can enter the town,” says the Secretary General of the area, Dominic Kang Deng.
Bol started his agricultural farm in 2005, growing only tomatoes. Today he produces onions, green and red peppers, and cucumbers.
“I am planning to extend my farmland next year with another two feddans and start cultivating watermelons,” says Bol.” “My only challenge is the cost of fuel, which is very high.”
Mr. Bol supplies the Aweil main market and also sells his products to the neighboring towns of Wanyjok, Kuajok and Wau. His farm is providing a source of desperately needed incomes for other people as well.
“I borrow tomatoes from his cultivation and pay him back when I have sold them,” says a 50-year-woman, Ms. Aluet Yai, who collects more red goodies every day. “It has helped me a lot. I can now send my children to school and I am able to get food for them,” she says.
Ms. Yai has a message to other women.
“Instead of drinking alcohol because of the frustrating conditions at home, come to this farm, collect vegetables on loan, and once you have made a profit you pay Mr. Bol back.”
Abuk Dut, a 38-year-old fellow female farmer, has followed suit.
“I used to sell alcohol for my daily survival, but I am better off now, since I started selling tomatoes. Although I only initiated this business last year, I have already been able to build myself a small tukul (hut) to stay in.”
On his part, Mr. Bol, has no complaints. His business success has made it possible for him to send his two brothers to school, and one of them has finished his studies at the University of Khartoum (in Sudan) and got a job in Juba. Still, he has suggestions when it comes to what the government can do to help others prosper.
“They should construct a national refinery for our oil, because once the oil can be refined locally, fuel prices will drop, more people will afford to open businesses and vegetables will become cheaper. With better roads, we could even transport some of our produce to Juba and sell it there,” he says.
Newer articles:
- Malawian released from South Sudan jail after 16 months torture in Juba - 13/04/2020 00:08
- South Sudanese blame foreigners for bringing coronavirus - 12/04/2020 09:06
- WHO declares yellow fever outbreak in South Sudan - 12/04/2020 07:31
- South Sudan's coronavirus cases rise to four - 10/04/2020 05:07
- South Sudan: Why R-TGoNU Should Be Seen United For Peace - 10/04/2020 01:42
Older news items
- South Sudan athletes in Japan keep dreams alive - 09/04/2020 10:49
- South Sudan to roll out school learning through radio due to COVID-19 - 09/04/2020 07:40
- Red Cross urges S. Sudan to step up COVID-19 response - 09/04/2020 06:09
- South Sudan police arrest 33 robbery suspects amid partial lockdown over COVID-19 - 08/04/2020 11:20
- A severe coronavirus outbreak across South Sudan would have disastrous consequences for millions of vulnerable civilians, UN experts note - 08/04/2020 07:55
Latest news items (all categories):
- South Sudan’s ‘Game Of Thrones’ Continues – Analysis - 01/12/2024 17:47
- South Sudan secured over 282 150 doses of oral cholera vaccine to contain the cholera outbreak - 01/12/2024 17:43
- The idea of one nation and one people is a distortion of our reality!!! - 29/11/2024 12:54
- In South Sudan with aid boss John Rynne: 'The maps drawn in colonial times are starting to erode' - 29/11/2024 12:47
- 'They have nothing': Aid workers struggle to save lives at edge of war-torn Sudan - 29/11/2024 12:36
Random articles (all categories):
- South Sudan Must Sustain Efforts to Protect Human Rights, Says UN Official - Sudan Vision - 13/05/2012 23:21
- Kenya's KCB to grow in South Sudan with VISA, more branches - 07/10/2013 06:23
- South Sudan Infographic (April 2020) - 15/05/2020 05:26
- South Sudan Says Inflation Slowing as War-Torn Economy Improves - 15/11/2018 07:09
- South Sudan: Renewed clashes see 14,000 flee to Juba - 13/04/2022 10:24
Popular articles:
- Who is the darkest person in the world, according to Guinness World Record? - 25/10/2022 02:34 - Read 58269 times
- No oil in troubled waters - 25/03/2014 15:02 - Read 22212 times
- School exam results in South Sudan show decline - 01/04/2012 17:58 - Read 21349 times
- NDSU student from South Sudan receives scholarship - In-Forum - 29/09/2012 01:44 - Read 18861 times
- Top 10 weakest currency exchange rates in Africa in 2023 - 19/07/2023 00:24 - Read 17966 times