Farming a good solution for South Sudan development
By Choul Dugak Lieth
April 7, 2009 — Farming was once the quickest way of life in almost every country. People cannot live without food, and virtually all their food comes from crops and animals raised on farms. Many other materials such as cotton and wool also come from plants and animals raised on farms. Currently, not many people farm for a living any more in southern Sudan due to the insecurity, but farming remains the most important occupation in the world. Proceeding in 1989, after (NIF) regime got into power by coup, the typical south Sudanese family lived on a small farm.
They raised cattle, sheep, chickens, and planted corn, fruits, garden vegetables, and the list can go on and on. At that duration everyone worked long and hard, but nowadays the results were often insufficient. Families barely harvested enough food for themselves. This situation hasn’t began to change since early 1990’s and it will not remarkably change if the government of southern Sudan (GoSS) will not take the (Act of Disarmament) very seriously to free the land so our people can start doing some farming rather than depending on the government and their relatives in Diasporas for assistance.
Now we are at the time where Scientific methods and labor saving machinery have made farming increasingly more dynamic. The development of improved plant varieties and fertilizers has helped double and even triple the yields of some major crops. Scientific livestock care and breeding have helped increase the amount of meat and products that animals produce. At the same time, the use of tractors and other new farm equipment has penetratingly reduced the need for farm labor. This means that the government of southern Sudan (GoSS) can supply our people for all if not some necessary equipments they need for agriculture and farming.
As we all know in many developed countries such as United and Canada, farming has become less important as a way of life, it has become more important as a business enterprise. Today’s successful farmers are proficient not just in agriculture but also skillful in accounting, selling, and finance. Farms that are not run in a businesslike way have great difficulty surviving. In addition, this is a great way to produce fresh, nutritious, high quality foods, since many children in southern Sudan are suffering from malnutrition and not only that, small family farms will also provide wealth of benefits for local communities and regions.
Perhaps most importantly, family farmers serve as liable stewards of the land. unlike industrial agriculture operations, which contaminate communities with chemical pesticides, noxious fumes and excess manure, small family farmers live on or near their farms and strive to preserve the surrounding environment for future generations. Since these farmers have a vested interest in their communities, they are more likely to use sustainable farming techniques to guard natural resources and human health. The existence of family farms in southern Sudan will also guarantees the preservation of green space within the communities. Independent family farms also play a very important role in rural economies.
In conclusion, farming will also providing jobs to the local people, family farmers also help support small businesses by purchasing goods and services within their communities. Through those tremendous efforts our people will help to preserve an essential connection between consumers, their food, and the land upon which this food is produced. Our gain of small family farms in southern Sudan will dramatically raise our supply of safe, fresh, sustainably grown foods; and will contributed to the economic and social disintegration of rural communities; and will attain important aspect of our national heritage. We need to rely on our land for foods rather than stalking those foreign organizations and our so called government for help.
This author is currently living in United States of America if you have any concerns don’t hesitate to send him an email at [email protected].
Gatwech
Farming a good solution for South Sudan development
Good but does Salva Kiir understand it?
First of all, greetings to readers. Is good to be back to my beautiful town, Malakal, after spending days in Kampala where I missed this wonderful website.
Insecurity every where in the South coupled with financial disaster and political incompetence of Salva Kiir is the order of the day. Most of all, South Sudan government is in very, very serious financial crisis and bankrupt, or you can say it is a failed entity in all aspects that include insecurity, political incompetence of President Kiir and now economic or financial disaster.
President Salva Kiir should honorably resign because his incompetency is beyond repair. If he doesn’t, then the parliament in Juba should impeach him before the masses take the matter into their own hands.
I knew long time ago that this tribal administration, decorated with plain traditional thieves, will drag this promising nation to disaster. People grab money like the way they grabbed lands of Equatoria, no sense of being a government or leaders at all. Salva Kiir also refused to listen to his constitutional aides like his Vice President. He allowed himself to be separated from his Vice President’s wise advices by his tribal self-imposed advisors. Some want to spoil his alliance or understanding with Dr. Riek Machar so that he is left vulnerable and dragged to a bottomless pit. What a politically naive leader like Kiir!
While I was in Kampala, a certain Ugandan lady approached me. She claimed that she is now rich because of being to Juba for only six months. She claimed that Directors and Directors-General were her customers who could write her checks with sums of hundreds and thousands of dollars in some cases just to appease them with her female gift.
She told me that a Dinka man told her proudly that the Dinka are the richest tribe in South Sudan. I looked at her and asked; when did he tell you that the Dinka started to become the richest tribe? I told her, my friend, that is not true. Go to their villages and see their mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters to see if they are rich or look like those ones in Juba. I explained to her that for that Dinka guy to claim being very rich is like a thief who was poor yesterday, but robbed a bank of its millions today, and claims to be rich for four days before the police catch him, recover most of the money and lock him up in jail.
The situation GOSS is now in was a result of the corrupt system in the SPLM/A under the leadership of Dr. John Garang de Mabior. We would not expect it to change over night. Salva Kiir is just continuing with the blessed corrupt practice during the war. This is the only way he could run the government. If we corner him, he will just get confused and may commit political suicide beyond human reasonable imagination. He may just decide to drag South Sudan on fire by acting crazy and attacking whoever he thinks is a challenger to him or a choice of the people. Because he fears to face El-Bashir, he may create a crisis in the South as an expression to pressures on him.