Directorate of National Schemes/Projects
The Directorate of National Schemes/Projects is one of the thirteen Directorates in the National Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. Its main task is to oversee and manage all the national schemes in the country. It works hand-in-hand with the other Directorates of the National Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security together with the States’ Ministries of Agriculture to achieve national food and nutrition security.
Functions of the Directorate
- Oversee implementation of all the activities in all the National Schemes/Projects funded by government, local or international donors.
- Provide agricultural inputs to all the National Schemes and states ministry of agriculture.
- Work closely with the other Directorates of MAFS to provide the necessary support to small scale farmers in coordination with the other national ministries to mitigate the issue of drought, floods, and combat any national pests or diseases that might cause severe crop failure (mitigation climate related hazards).
- Engage local communities and local governments to provide agricultural land, invite local and foreign investors to invest in agriculture to boost the non-oil revenue sector.
- Enhance market access and contribute to food value chain addition
In 2007, Dr. Erneo Balasio earned a PhD in Irrigation Water Management from Juba, Khartoum. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Mechanization & Engineering from the University of Khartoum in 1995 and a Master’s in Irrigation Water Management from Gezira University in 1999. He earned a 1992 Sudan University of Science and Technology General Agriculture diploma.
After returning to the country, Dr. Erneo became Director of Agricultural Mechanization and Engineering from 2011 to 2015. He became an assistant professor and senior lecturer at the University of Juba in 2015, teaching Agricultural Mechanization (I and II) and Irrigation Water Management. He led studies on the Eastern Nile Irrigation System Performance Assessment and Options for Improvement in South Sudan. The study was supervised by Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office (ENTRO) based in Ethiopia for the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) – Eastern Nile Regional Office while at the University.
He became Director General for National Schemes and Projects in 2023, after returning to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
Dr. Erneo Balasio, Director General, Directorate of National Schemes/Projects,
Mobile Phones: +211 913 339 992/+211 920 239 898;
Email address: erneo_bal@rocketmail.com ; erneobal@gmail.com
Structure of the Directorate
