Jonglei committed to poverty reduction, says agriculture minister

October 31, 2013 (BOR) – Jonglei state’s minister of agriculture Mayen Ngor Atem said on Thursday said his government has prioritised agriculture in the state with an aim of reducing poverty levels across the state where many people live under poverty line due to food insecurity.

Speaking during the opening of a joint workshop run by the Catholic Relief Service (CRS) and Save The Children International (SCI) in Bor on Thursday, Ngor said that he expects that most populations in the troubled state will be “food secure” by 2014. This would be achieved, he said, through the Jonglei Food Security program, a funded project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) implemented by SCI and CRS.

According to the minister, the project has entered its third year of implementation where the implementing partners were expected to do more to change the live of the people.

“We cannot start agriculture development through trainings. You must not sleep till 9, come to work at 10 and go back homes at 12 noon”, he warned the staff at the joint meeting.

The third year of the programme would focus on consolidation and scaling up the efforts to address food insecurity. “We have a political commitment in this project on poverty reduction”.

The project focuses on both crop production and livestock, community risk reduction strategies on natural disasters including floods, the minister said.

Speaking at the same workshop, the commissioner of Akobo county, Koang Rambang also expressed his desire for the project to increase its efforts to help people feel food secure in Jonglei.

“I feel that this project would make us food independent, we may not depend on food aid”, he said.

Majority of people in the state do cultivate due to insecurity, flooding and late onset of rains this year. Cattle raiding is common in Jonglei and a rebellion based in Pibor county since 2010 has further destablised South Sudan’s largest state.

(ST)