Project: Supporting Sustainable Agriculture for Vulnerable Smallholder Farmers II
CEDA was able to secure funding from Luena Foundation to revamp the project “Supporting Sustainable Agriculture for Vulnerable Smallholder Farmers” for a second edition.
In the previous edition of the project, CEDA, in a self-funded effort, has provided the farmers of the county with seeds and facilitation to sustain agriculture-based households using sustainable simple technologies and indigenous knowledge to promote food security and sustainable livelihoods. The project also aimed at increasing awareness on the importance of small-scale subsistent farming in the community as it can make the community efficient and not completely reliant on humanitarian assistance.
The integrated agricultural farming project in Akobo has 10, 000 square meters of arable land. It is run by 10 volunteers and 45 community members that are undergoing training on how to promote food security. CEDA volunteers are growing varieties of crops mostly brought from Europe and donated by Luena Foundation.
In 2020, CEDA run the first edition of the project which has now been improved by the presence of a generator donated by the Norwegian Refugee Council and the increase in size of the plot and the community members involved in it. The water is generated from river using the generator
Challenges:
- Lack of funding to carry out training activities like workshop to community members on.
- Lack of fence and wire to protect the crops from animals
- Lack of tools for agricultures e.g water can, hoe, etc
- Lack of pesticides
A bit about the situation of food security in Akobo:
Shortage of food availability in Akobo county has been an issue and it worsened at the onset of South Sudan conflict in 2013. Akobo County was cut off from all government services since the conflict erupted and it is currently governed by the opposition forces.
The 2014 weather conditions had negative impacts on small-scale farming as scarce rainfalls prevented the farmers from planting their crops. In addition, heavy rainfall between August – October destroyed some of the crops. In 2019, the area registered lower yield compared to 2012 – 2013, the situation is bound to worsen if action is not taken.
In this, smallholder farmers in South Sudan that face poor yield risk food insecurity.
After a donation by the NRC – Norwegian Refugee Council of an electrical generator, our team in Akobo joined a training on agriculture during the dry season organized by the NGO.
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