South Sudan aspires to be food secure by 2014
South Sudan still has a long way to go before it becomes food secure. The cereal deficit has doubled since 2010 and 2.4 million people need food assistance.
A nation that cannot feed its people and relies on relief food will not live up to its people’s aspirations.”
A nation that cannot feed its people and relies on relief food will not live up to its people’s aspirations,” Kiir told a governors’ forum, the second since South Sudan became an independent nation.
An estimated 83 percent of South Sudan’s population lives in rural areas. Most depend on rain-fed, small-scale agriculture, fishing, livestock and natural resource extraction.
Last Monday, governors from the ten states met in the capital Juba, to discuss the theme: Agriculture for sustainable food security and economic growth.”
Senior national and regional government officials, the legislative and executive branch of government, as well as civil society, religion leaders and development partners joined the meeting.
In his key note speech Kiir described poverty as social enemy that need to be vigorously tackled.
The Governor of Jonglei State, Kuol Manyang, during the Governors’ Forum, November 26.
The forum was designed to inform attendees about the current security and economic situation. They aimed to convey government priorities towards the realisation of the vision by 2040.
Meanwhile, South Sudan Agriculture Minister Betty Achan has said food security is a pressing problem as South Sudan’s deficit in cereal production has swelled by almost 30 percent in 2012.
Our target is to double cereal production from 700k to 1.5 metric tones,” said Achan.
UNDP Resident Representative Toby Lanzer said gaining food security is not easy and stressed agriculture productivity and production are key issues for South Sudan.
