Boma state yet to receive president Kiir’s tractors
May 30, 2016 (BOR) – Boma state, a region cocomprising mainly of pastoralists, is yet to get the 20 tractors promised to each state by the South Sudanese Presdent, Salva Kiir.
“We did not manage to receive our share of tractors this year from Juba. Majority of the people, whom we wanted to engage on agriculture, especially the youth, are now redundant. Very few have cultivated around their homestead, on less than a fedan. This cannot support them in any way”, he told Sudan Tribune in Pibor on Saturday.
The communities in Pochalla and Anuak are said to have tried best, using their manual hand tools to cultivate reasonable sizes of their farms. He however said the Murle had not done much in farming due to several challenges it’s communities had been faced with.
“One of the reasons is that man in Murle don’t cultivate, they only go after cattle, while women remain at homes to do the rest of the jobs, including cultivating for the family. Maize is the common crop they plant, but what they plant cannot feed them for even a month”, stressed Medan.
“So there was a need for us to train them on large scale food production and to teach men that farming is not only for women”, he added.
Medan said failure of the tractors to arrive, indicated that the status of food security in the state would still be low next year, urging the humanitarian to step in for help.
In other places, large section of the communities spent the entire year moving from one place to another with their cattle as they searched for green pastures.
“We will target this communities by making them settle, so that they begin to cultivate to have enough food for the rest of the year. This will give their children a chance to access education”, said Medan.
(ST)