Lainya County launches large-scale agricultural project

(radiotamazuj.org)

Authorities in Lainya County of Central Equatoria State on Saturday launched a large-scale agricultural project to boost food production in the area this year.

The project was given to the county by the United Nations and will be implemented by ACROSS South Sudan for one year.

Speaking to reporters in Lainya County, ACROSS’s supervisor John Malish said the farming project targets returnees, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and the host community in the five Payams of the county.

According to Malish, ACROSS will work closely with the concerned offices to ensure the agricultural project is properly executed.

‘’We are targeting IDPs, returnees, and the host community, so meaning anyone who falls under these categories of people will benefit from this project. What I am urging the people to do is cooperation, and I will also make sure that we work with the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner (RRC) office, the county agricultural department and the commissioner’s office,” he said.

For his part, Lainya County Commissioner Emmanuel Khamis Richard called on the farmers to embark on large-scale farming to alleviate poverty in the county.

’We encourage farmers to engage in large-scale farming to address food insecurity in the county and contribute food to Juba and Yei. Lainya is one of the food baskets in the greater Yei,” he said.

"Our partner ACROSS is going to work with the county agriculture department to ensure that farmers are identified, and lands are already prepared so that timetable is set to support the farmers across the five payams,” he added.

Investment in South Sudan’s agriculture sector is particularly important. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), about 90 percent of the population continues to live in rural areas and is dependent on agriculture.

More than 90 percent of South Sudan’s land is arable, with the potential to become the breadbasket of Africa. But only four percent of the land is cultivated today, and South Sudan continues to rely on agricultural imports from Uganda and Kenya.

In 2012, President Salva Kiir announced that by 2014, South Sudan should become agriculturally self-sufficient. But the goal is yet to be met.