JUBA, May 6 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan said on Monday it aims to achieve sustainable food security within two years amid prevailing peace.
Onyoti Adigo Nyikuac, minister of agriculture and food security said the ministry is working with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and partners to build self-sufficiency in food security within two years period and later on export food and livestock products within five years.
South Sudan hopes to be a regional food basket by implementing its five-year agricultural policy framework and a 25-year comprehensive agricultural master plan.
The country has vast arable land and 38 million livestock. Currently oil and mining dominate the economy in terms of revenues, accounting for 98 percent of the fiscal budget since the country's independence from Sudan in 2011.
"We need our (farmers) people to form themselves into groups so that they can be helped. Also from marketing, FAO is contracting some of our farmers so that they produce seeds. It is also helping in feeder roads, and even vaccinating our livestock," he added.
South Sudan suffered famine in 2016 in its northern parts largely caused by the five years of conflict that broke out in December 2013.
A report released by the South Sudan's National Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with the FAO, the UNICEF and the WFP revealed that the number of food insecure people grew from 6.1 million in 2018 to 6.8 million as of January 2019.
South Sudan's warring parties last week agreed to extend the date for the formation of a transitional unity government by another six months and the peace deal signed in September 2018 is largely holding despite intermittent clashes in the South West Yei region.
