Seed money
To help South Sudan recover from the locust outbreak, the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) has provided a total of $143 million in financing for two projects, the Resilient Agricultural Livelihoods Project (RALP) and Emergency Locust Response Project (ELRP). The projects have been implemented by the Government of South Sudan through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, in partnership with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Together, they seek to address challenges encountered by vulnerable groups, including women farmers and youth, by supplying productive assets and offering training in agriculture and other economic activities that sit in close proximity to communities, households, and individuals.
Both projects emphasize the involvement of women. They have helped women raise 403,000 seedlings and led to the repair of access roads and other community infrastructure, including four pesticide stores, one central laboratory, eight farmers’ multipurpose centres and eight stores in selected areas in South Sudan.
Amer Bech Anuar harvesting sorghum on her farm in Bor South County, Jonglei State, South Sudan. Photo: World Bank/FAO
Amer Bech Anyuat is chairperson of the RALP-supported Matjot Multipurpose Cooperative for Seed Production for Market in Makuach Payam, Bor County, Jonglei State. The 30-member group has 17 women. They received leadership training, training in basic agricultural skills, farming tools and seeds. The area of land Anyuat has under cultivation has since changed from 25 to 35 feddans, with a dramatic increase in her yields of sorghum from 250 bags to 300 bags.
The women’s group farmers who joined RALP also received other income-generating opportunities from the Village Savings and Loans Association initiative to help them rebuild their livelihoods, provide food for their families, and boost their household income. “The agriculture people came to us here, they taught us, they gave us seeds, and now we are okay. Now you can see I am harvesting sorghum in my garden,” said Debora Peter, another farmer.
“As a group of women farmers, we have three hectares of sorghum that is now being harvested for food, and I will sell some to earn money for meeting the basic needs of my family. I can now say that life is slowly improving for my household. I urge our funders to continue with the support to reach more households, so that they too can witness the transformation I have experienced.”
The RALP project also addressed nutritional gaps by supporting groups of women vegetable farmers. For years, most households in Torit County’s Iluhum residential area had purchased vegetables for home consumption, a habit that deprived them of the nutritional diversity of the many types of vegetables not available in local markets, due both to their limited supply and to prices unaffordable for many families.
The Muhaba women farmers’ group in Torit County is being supported to cultivate a variety of vegetables for individual household consumption and sales.
Mama Tina joined the Muhaba crop and vegetable production group in 2022 and learned about kitchen gardening. This has enabled her to plant vegetables around her compound with seeds for amaranths, cowpeas, and jute melon that she received from the project. It also supplied her with tools, such as hoes, shovels, and watering cans.