المنتدى العالمي المعني بالأمن الغذائي والتغذية

Agricultural Development Programme Proposed Master Plan(2015-2017) in South Sudan

Executive Summary

The proposed Master Plan for Agricultural Development has been a joint effort of the author. The author reviewed secondary information and addressed areas such as the formulation of a draft vision statement, detailed problem analysis for agricultural production, marketing and community mobilisation and a conflict analysis using the Local Capacities for Peace (LCP) approach. Further results are the formulation of long-term objectives and logical framework until the end of 2017.

Inadequate agricultural production, marketing and income generation continue to be the core problem of the existing situation in the agricultural sector in South Sudan. Root causes for this core problem mainly stem from the long lasting civil war and the neglect of the South Sudan  by regimes in Khartoum before and after independence, including a weak human resource base, low organisational capacity of most organisations involved in agricultural development, a desolate road network posing major obstacles to regional and cross-border marketing of agricultural produce, and communities which have been affected by decades of relief supply (dependency syndrome) and which are to some extent resistant to change processes.

Major potentials - as a basis for long term planning - are the favourable climatic conditions for farming coupled with good soil fertility in most parts of the South Sudan, the traditional knowledge and skills of local farmers and relative peace in the area which increases confidence of the people and which encourages voluntary return of South Sudanese refugee populations in the neighbouring counties, namely the D.R. of Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda.

The long term vision for the programme is to develop:

A self-sufficient sustainable and gender sensitive agricultural production and marketing system that enhances economic growth, equity and access to essential social services, a good standard of living and a secure and peaceful environment.

The overall goal for agricultural development remains “increased agricultural production and income generation”. To achieve this goal three core strategies and two supporting strategies have been designed, reviewed and further developed:

Core strategies:

A.   Improve agriculture and production of marketable surplus through promotion of improved agricultural techniques and practices as a continuous process

B.   Developing systems and structures for improved and sustainable marketing of local produce

C.   Strengthening community mobilisation, participation and ownership in the agricultural development programme

Supporting Strategies:

A. Enhancing institutional capacity of National and State Ministries of Agriculture and County Agriculture Departments (CADs) in the ten states and seventy Nine Counties

B. Improving and facilitating essential logistical support for the Agricultural Development Programme

The Core elements of the strategy for agricultural production are a) to facilitate and promote a sustainable supply of essential agricultural inputs (e.g. through the promotion of local production of seeds and tools) or to sell quality inputs to farmers on cost recovery basis, and b) to improve farmers’ knowledge, skills and agricultural techniques by building on local knowledge and introducing appropriate new technologies. CAD will play a central role in the implementation of this strategy as well as the active involvement of communities.

The marketing strategy remains a centre piece of the Agricultural development programme. Goal is to develop systems and structures for improved and sustainable marketing. That involves facilitation and contribution to the creation of favourable market conditions such as advocating for an improvement of the main road network (trunk roads), which is mainly the role of national/ state government Ministries of Agriculture in liaison with the other Ministries. Other sub- strategies include the promotion of marketable agricultural surplus facilitated through the creation of improved storage facilities and profitable agro-processing units, the establishment of appropriate and functioning market information systems throughout South Sudan and the promotion of co-operative societies; self help groups and capable individuals engaged in marketing and marketing related activities.

The implementation of the two previous strategies will be doomed to fail if they are not supported by communities and community-based organisations and structures. This is why Community mobilisation, participation and ownership became a core strategy. Key elements of this strategy are to  strengthen and qualify the community based implementation structures of the programme,  particularly the Community- Based Extension Workers (CBEWs) and contract farmers, to improve the systems and methodologies for community mobilisation, to contribute to the capacity building of community structures (Boa Development Committees) and local implementing organisations (local NGO and CBOs). It is understood that these objectives can only be achieved in close networking with other actors in rural development as well as the civil society organisations.

Women have received a higher priority in the new agricultural development programme. Their active participation in the decision making process as well as in programme implementation is seen as a key not only for improved community mobilisation but also for improved agricultural production as women share more than 50% of the workload in the agricultural sector.

Besides community mobilisation, an enhanced institutional capacity of CAD and improved sustainability of essential logistical support services (mainly transport) are seen as key conditions for a successful programme implementation. Institutional development of National and State Ministries of Agriculture and CADs should  have a Human Resource Development policy in place and implemented that facilitates the provision of quality services, to enhance management capacity at all levels, to improve systems for planning and monitoring and to increase partnerships with collaborating agencies from within and outside South Sudan.

It is expected that the agricultural development programme shall make a significant contribution to a better quality of life for the people in the ten states of South Sudan as well as to contribute to social and economic development in other sectors. This programme cannot be seen in isolation to the other efforts for building the Nation of South Sudan including the building of the educational system (including adult education), capacity building of civil society organisations and grass-root initiatives, enhancing the capacity of administration and governing structures as well as rehabilitating the poor social and economic infrastructure.

The agriculture programme strongly builds on the expectation that only a joint effort of the main stakeholders concerned will pave the way to achieve the set objectives. It is a necessity that the main stakeholders better understand their role in this process and the roles of the other actors. The current approach foresees service delivery on the basis of sustainability, i.e. inputs will be provided on a credit or cost recovery basis. This approach will have to be maintained and strengthened.

The agricultural programme is implemented within a conflict and/or anticipated peace environment. A conflict analysis, carried out as part of this programme, revealed actual and potential fields of violent conflict, the most prominent being the conflict between pastoralists (who are in host states as IDPs) and farmers. This will require awareness building through Local Capacities for Peace approach as well as development of capacities for impact monitoring.

If successful, the agricultural development Programme shall become a model for the implementation of food security pillar in South Sudan vision 2040.