Ruweng farmers hit bumper harvest, stock 1,000 tonnes of food

A group of farmers in the northern region of Ruweng Administrative Area defied the aftermath of natural calamities to register a bumper harvest of 1300 metric tonnes of food crops in the ending farming season.

1000 tonnes of sorghum grains, 200 tonnes of tomatoes, and 100 tonnes of onions are among their harvests.

The Abeimnom County-based farming group known as the Young Farmers Association said they managed to harvest despite the havoc caused by the flood that submerged almost half of the farmland last year.

The farmers produced a variety of crops, including grains, vegetables such as onions, and fruits such as oranges, mangoes, and bananas.

Bol Dau Kuol, the project manager of the association, said they are a farming group comprised of 50 people who are engaged in large-scale farming.

 “This year we had to reduce the number of fadden (a unit of measurement equal to 0.42 hectares) and flooding also delayed our production,” Kuol said in an interview with The City Review yesterday.

“Despite this, we have harvested the following quantities: sorghum is 1000 metric tons; tomatoes are 200 metric tonnes and is still up to March, onions is 100 metric tonnes and are still up to March,” he said, stressing that the second harvest would begin in March.

However, Ruweng Administrative Area is struggling with a lack of proper roads to link the region with neighbouring states.

The only market they could access, according to Kuol, was Aneet/Agok town, which had been hit by a series of inter-communal violence between the neighbouring communities of Twic and Ngok.

However, Kuol promised to shift sales to Wau Market in Western Bahr el Ghazal as the nearest selling location because Agok Town has been deserted due to the ongoing conflict.

“(Access) to the market remains a big challenge for us. “We used to send our produce to Aneet and Agok, but because the tension between Twic and Abyei is still high, we are not going to supply Aneet and Agok again.”

“We will only go to Wau this time, which is far,” he said.

“I urge the government to improve the poor infrastructure and security, and because there is too much insecurity, ordinary farmers are not able to cultivate. “Let the government address these challenges,” he said.

Established in 2006, the Young Farmers Association cultivates 600 hectares of land.