Poor roads hamper food security in Central Equatoria State
The State Minister of Physical Infrastructure, Paul Ladu Bureng, has drawn up a plan to update the road network across all parts of the state in 2013. Ladu said that the improvements will enable farmers to access markets and improve food production.
Farming is blocked by poor roads which has demoralised food production,” said Ladu. Central Equatoria, South Sudan’s smallest state, has a large amount of fertile land, he said, adding that food production remained low because of weak markets in the rural areas.
Juma David, Commissioner Yei County, December 27, 2012.
Food security is human development, so we are working to boast food production in the state in every way possible,” he said.
Beside roads’ rehabilitation, regional leaders pledged to distribute better seeds and more fertiliser to farmers in 2013. Officials said food production harvests have increased in 2012 compared to the previous seasons.
Commissioner of Yei River County, Juma David, highlighted poor roads as the major obstacle to development in his county. It is a difficult situation because of the poor road network,” Juma said.
Juma appealed to the state government for urgent repairs on Yei-Lasu and Morobo-Yei roads. He urged the state government to provide storage systems to the farmers to preserve harvests. 100 percent of the farmers in Yei River County are still using traditional ways of harvest preservation,” said Juma, adding that it was important for farmers shifting from traditional farming to commercial farming.
Paul Ladu and Juma David, December 27, 2012.
Experts estimate that some 500,000 of the region’s 1,5 million population are farmers. Local politicians also promised theorethical and practical training for farmers.
Community representative Agnes Juwan agreed that the lack of transport was an obstacle to food security. Poor roads have brought us backward as we cannot access markets to sell our products,” Juwan said, adding that last year’s harvest would have been twice as big if there had been more corporation between the government and farmers.
