South Sudan’s agriculture budget trimmed despite food shortage
The National Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Tourism, Animal Resources and Fisheries, Beda Machar Deng, says that his ministry will not be able to implement most of the agriculture projects as the 2014/2015 budget allocated to the Ministry is smaller than last year’s budget.
Without proper funding to the Ministry of Agriculture we are not going to eradicate hunger and poverty.”We shall be poor for another two to three years to come unless the government gives us extra funds,” Machar says. Without proper funding to the Ministry of Agriculture we are not going to eradicate hunger and poverty.”
The parliament has passed a budget of 11.2 billion South Sudanese pounds (approx. USD 3.3 billion) this year to cater for agriculture, education, healthcare, clean drinking water and physical infrastructure as the main priorities. Agriculture was allocated 104,937,311 SSP (approx. USD 31 million) this year, slightly undercutting last year’s amount.
Parliamentary Chairperson of Land, Agriculture and Forestry Clement Pasquale says most funds pay for ministry staff salaries, while important projects are not reflected in the budget.
The budget of agriculture is very poor because most of the money is just for salaries and the important things like agriculture research,” Pasquale explains.
The looming famine coupled with acute food shortage in the country is predicted to continue for two to three years, unless the government urgently allocates extra funds. Aid agencies warn that at least four million South Sudanese will be affected by starvation and one million suffer already.
The budget of agriculture is very poor because most of the money is just for salaries.”Prior to the passing of this year’s budget, the parliament emphasised that more funds are urgently needed to avert famine as the United Nations Council warned of the mounting food crisis in South Sudan.
The U.S. Ambassador to the UN Security Council Samantha Power said on Tuesday, during a visit to Juba, that around half of the country’s population is facing food insecurity while over 50,000 children under five years are at risk of dying of malnutrition in the coming months. Pasquale says the parliament has approved SSP 350 million as a capital investment and another SSP 6 million for vaccination of livestock of which half has so far been approved.
Another SSP 5 million approved will be used for garbage and cleaning. According to Pasquale an additional SSP 2 million will be used to pay for tractors that the President had pledged and the rest of the money will be used to fund agricultural activities across the country.
