Submitted by Angela Stephens
Despite enormous potential for southern Sudan’s agriculture sector, decades of conflict and the legacies of war—including poor transport, limited storage capacity and processing facilities, and a poor investment climate—have hindered agriculture development. As a result, most southern Sudanese farmers produce for subsistence rather than profit, and consumers suffer from high prices of food products, many of which are imported from neighboring countries.
Government of Southern Sudan Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Dr. Anne Itto (center) with USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator for Africa Franklin Moore (left) and U.S. Consul General in Juba Ambassador R. Barrie Walkley (right) at the Southern Sudan Agriculture Conference August 24-25 in Nairobi. Photo credit: Tim Freccia
USAID and the U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan hosted a conference in Nairobi August 24-25 with the Government of Southern Sudan to address these challenges and revitalize agriculture in southern Sudan, with the goal of improving food security and economic growth for the people of the region.
At the conference, USAID and the Government of Southern Sudan launched an Agriculture Innovation Fund designed to finance public-private sector partnerships promoting new approaches to agricultural development in southern Sudan. USAID also described its plans to establish a United States-Southern Sudan Agriculture Advisory Council composed of agriculture experts from the two governments, and from universities in the United States and southern Sudan, to provide expert advice to the governments on the design and assessment of agriculture development programs in the region. In addition, USAID is working to establish partnerships on agriculture education between Juba University, Catholic University of Sudan, John Garang University, and leading U.S. educational institutions.
Howard G. Buffett, President of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, participated in a panel on private sector partnerships and pledged support for a seeds program with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa.
Obviously aid is urgently needed to deliver food immediately into ravaged areas in order to save lives – but that is only a short term fix. A more comprehensive effort has to be undertaken so that local farmers are supported and given the tools they need to increase their levels of production. Economic supports need to be put into place including infrastructure to get locally grown food to those who need it. Water and irrigation is critical to sustaining and increasing crop production. Farmers must have access to modern equipment and instruction on how to get the highest yield from their land. We need to make the long-term financial commitment to help them do these things so they can become self-sufficient. The more food they can grow for themselves the less dependent they will be on a world that does not always respond with compassion.
Having sufficient food to ensure good health is a basic human right. This is not a philosophical debate. There is no moral ambiguity involved. To deny anyone access to food is a form of murder. To deny it to specific populations is a form of genocide. Food is not a weapon that can be employed with cruelty and disregard. Food is not a product that can be bartered or used as a negotiating tool. Food is exempt from all the other things in life that must be paid for because without it there is no life. When we allow people to starve to death day after day we are making the immoral choice to let it happen. When innocent people die and we do nothing to stop it we are complicit in their deaths. http://stopextremepoverty.com/2010/08/20/hunger/
I think green revolution is the answer of hunger not war