Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The farming communities in Wau town of Western Bahr-el-Ghazal State have been tutored on agricultural production to unlock their potential. They were also issued with agricultural tools such as generators for pumping water to grow fruit seedlings.In a statement shared by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) yesterday, the Minister of Agriculture of Western Bahr-el-Ghazal, Daniel Akuang, urged the farmers to take agriculture as a priority since most of their incomes come from farming activities in the area.
“Agriculture is the way in these areas to provide food and reduce poverty among our people. The farmers here are keen to move on with the modern farming if equipment and tools are made available,”Akuang said.
Ready to go
The farmers are being supported by the Bangladesh peacekeeping mission currently based in Wau capital.
Bangladesh peace-keeping mission commander, Col . Selim Azad, said his countrymen had a similar fate with the South Sudanese who have suffered conflict in 1971.He said it was through farming that the country was able to recover after peace was restored in the area.
The representative of the peacekeeping mission’s field office in Wau, Erasmus Migyikra, said he was optimistic that if the youth put much effort into agriculture they would invest more than wasting time in the war.
Last month, a group of women from the farming communities supported by a faith-based organization, Daughters of Mary Immaculate launched agriculture awareness in different marketplaces in Juba.They were moving with banners and microphones, calling on other women and young men to join agricultural production, and form saving groups to improve their livelihoods.
Chairperson of Jopari Women Group, Alima Florence, said they had wanted to educate women vendors in the market to form their groups so that they would be supported to grow their food to sell than exporting them.
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