Fund agriculture master plan to boost food security: activist
June 14, 2022 (JUBA) – A South Sudanese activist has urged government to fund the comprehensive agriculture master plan to enhance food security.
The call comes a day after the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said it had suspended food assistance to almost a third of “acutely” food insecure people in South Sudan over “critical funding shortages”.
The decision, WFP said Tuesday, means 1.7 million people it planned to support this year will starve owing to lack of humanitarian food assistance.
The suspension of aid comes at the worst possible time for the people of South Sudan as the young nation faces a year of unprecedented hunger.
Edmund Yakani, the Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) described as “shocking” WFP’s suspension of food assistance the population facing limitations in agricultural production because of floods, deadly inter-communal violence and local drought.
“It is time for government to invest funds on agriculture, especially financing of the implementation of the developed Comprehensive Agricultural Master Plan. It will be a double tragedy if government fails to inject the national revenue from oil and non-oil resources,” said Edmund Yakani, Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO).
According to WFP, more than 60% of the population in the East African nation are currently grappling with severe food insecurity during the lean season, fuelled by continuing conflict, severe flooding, localized drought, and soaring food prices exacerbated by the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
Yakani urged lawmakers to design a proper national budget for the 2022-2023 financial year, stressing that the gap created by WFP’s suspension of food assistance will negatively impact on the population depending on it.
He said CEPO would soon launch a “food for peace” campaign aimed at increasing public advocacy on the importance of focusing on agriculture.
“The initiative will be launched in Yei River County on July 10,” stressed Yakani.
Launched in 2012, the Comprehensive Agriculture Master Plan (CAMP) and the Irrigation Development Master Plan (IDMP) are the first national agriculture development plans and a comprehensive set of technical documents to guide agricultural development in South Sudan for 25 years.
The agricultural plan addresses food insecurity and focuses on five key areas; such crops, forestry, livestock, fisheries and institutional development.
Despite the huge agricultural potential that South Sudan possesses, only about five percent of the country’s arable land is reportedly being utilised.
(ST)