Southern Sudan will need to invest in infrastructure to feed and employ its people (IRINNews)

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SUDAN: Farming the future in the South

YEI, 17 February 2011 (IRIN) – With independence only months away, Southern Sudan will need to invest in infrastructure to feed and employ its people, while seeking alternatives to its economic dependency on oil, say analysts.

The key is agriculture, and one aspiring farmer, Baba Samuel Manoah has big plans for his land, which until recently was covered in dense underbrush. Now it is dotted with pineapples, young avocado trees and bananas. He envisions a commercial operation that produces not only fruit and vegetables, but also farmed fish and honey.

While his father, an MP, is busy with political affairs, Manoah plans to move home and run the farm full-time when he completes university in Kampala this year. “You can’t stay somewhere that’s developed and leave your place underdeveloped,” he said.

Six years of peace have allowed Manoah’s family to reclaim some of their land, which lay fallow during the war. He plans to expand operations and tap markets expected to develop rapidly in Africa’s newest state.

Not only could agriculture provide a lucrative business opportunity, but also jobs for the community, while helping to alleviate the desperate need for increased food production, he says.

About 2.5 million Southern Sudanese experienced food insecurity last year, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network. That figure was 40 percent above the average during the previous decade. World Food Programme officials have told IRIN that the sharp rise in the number of people requiring food aid coincided with an influx of returnees in the run-up to January’s independence referendum.

Many experts say Southern Sudan should be able to feed itself. The region encompasses vast amounts of arable land, but decades of fighting prevented the agricultural sector from developing. On the eve of independence on 9 July, they say, Southern Sudan needs to focus on farming to feed and employ its people.

“In the bigger picture, agriculture has to be the main driver of economic growth,” said USAID mission director William Hammink. He added that more than 80 percent of the population depended on agriculture for their livelihoods.

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