Kun få procent af den store nye afrikanske nations dyrkbare land er under kultivering
JUBA, 8th July, 2011: As South Sudan celebrates its independence Saturday (9 July), the world’s newest nation faces many challenges in building a strong and stable economy that supports the food security and livelihoods of its population.
But it is richly endowed from nature.
– South Sudan is enormously rich in terms of natural resources, and with 95 percent of the population dependent on them for survival, it has huge potential for sustainable growth through agriculture, said George Okech, Head of Office, FAO South Sudan.
As part of the UN food and agricultural agency’s support effort to the new nation, FAO recently carried out an extensive satellite land cover survey that showed just 4,5 percent of the available land was currently under cultivation.
This data was then verified on the ground by local experts using GPS. The survey was carried out with the support of the 20,6 million euro EU-funded Sudan Institutional Capacity Programme: Food Security Information for Action.
The objective of the land-cover survey was to identify the distribution of major agricultural land, as well as other natural resources, including forest, grazing pastures and rivers.
– The launch of the land-cover database could not have come at a better time for the new nation of South Sudan, said John Chuol Dhol, South Sudan’s Director General for Agriculture Production.
Not only is the survey a new robust method for developing an improved agricultural data collection system, it could also lay the foundation for a new system of natural resources monitoring and act as a useful tool for food security monitoring.
A workshop to present the outputs and results of the land-cover database, organized by the South Sudan Government and FAO, will be held in Juba, South Sudan, in August 2011.
FAO will be discussing its 50 million US dollar Interim Assistance Plan (IAP) for the agricultural sector with donors in August in the hope of securing funding for this important programme.
FAO donors in South Sudan include Canada, CERF, the Common Humanitarian Fund, France, Spain, Switzerland.
FAO currently manages a 61 million dollar emergency rehabilitation programme in South Sudan that has already helped 250.000 returnee and internally displaced households who fled their farms during the conflict return to agriculture, as well as vulnerable households who are hosting the returnees.
The support offered includes training young people in Farmer Field Schools and building administrative capacity.
Kilde: www.fao.org
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http://www.u-landsnyt.dk/nyhed/07-07-11/dansk-ekspert-sydsudans-fodsel-er-lidt-af-et-mirak
