Stakeholders discuss rural development to spur food production
Stakeholders from various institutions met on Saturday to discuss integrated rural development aimed at boosting food production in the country.
The initiative will improve a community’s socio-economic and environmental awareness.
Speaking at the event on Saturday, Vice President for Gender and Youth Cluster, Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior, encouraged citizens to be productive and take development to rural areas through youth and women.
She said the government would ensure the construction of good roads to ease the movement of people and goods between towns and rural areas.
“The issue of mechanised agriculture, the transformation of our cattle into economic benefit for our people, is where South Sudan will start to talk about the pride of having many cattle,” Nyandeng said.
Nyandeng said that under integrated rural development, there is a need to embark on skills training to strengthen the citizens.
The vice president appealed to those with skills to go back to their home village and champion the transformation.
The Managing Director for Ebony Centre, Lual Deng, said the event was organised to allow the experts and stakeholders to generate ideas that could be used to accelerate rural development.
He appealed to the citizens and those who might have been relegated from government seats to take part in engineering positive ideas meant to develop the country.
“I encourage my friends who are in government that when you are reshuffled out later on, do not go to the bush; come to Ebony Centre and push your ideas and how to influence.”
Dr. Juvenal Nzambimana, Senior Agriculture Specialist and Acting Country Manager, World Bank Group South Sudan, said South Sudan has many resources that need to be utilised.
He appealed to the stakeholders to generate the necessary ideas that would enable the country to utilise its resources to benefit its citizens.
“We have a huge number of livestock in the country, but what type of milk are we drinking? We are drinking more powdered milk than cow milk because of slow integration,” Juvenal said.
Also, he said that the country feeds on imported food, adding that there is a need for the country to put the idea of integration into practise to empower rural areas.
The Minister of Livestock and Fisheries, Onyoti Adigo, emphasised the need for the country to embark on the formation of cooperatives.
He said when people are put in groups, it makes it easier for them to achieve more.
Onyoti also emphasised the need to train more agricultural workers that could be deployed in rural areas.
Josephine Lagu Yanga, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, said there was a need for citizens to take part in making policies that enhance development in the country.
“There is a need to encourage private and self-reliant actions that enable people to participate in
The discussion was hosted by the Ebony Centre for Strategic Studies (ECSS) through its flagship Development Policy Forum (DPF) programme and in collaboration with the World Bank Group’s South Sudan country office.
