Stakeholders Validate Additional Financing Output Agreement to Scale up Agriculture and Livelihoods Support in Flood Affected Counties
Hon. Josephine Lagu Yanga, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security (Second to right) officiated the validation workshop, flanked by Hon. Dr. John Kanisio the MAFS Undersecretary (Left), Hon. Prof. Mathew Gordon Udo, MAFS Undersecretary for Cooperatives and Rural Development (Second to left), Juvenal Nzambimana, the World Bank Task Leader for the RALP project (Center), and Meshack Malo, the FAO Country Representative for South Sudan (Right). Photo Credit: MAFS.
Wednesday, June 26, 2024, Juba – On Wednesday, June 26, 2024, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS) convened a workshop with key South Sudan Resilient Agricultural Livelihood Project (RALP) stakeholders to validate Additional Financing (AF) of 30.5 million US from the World Bank. The project will support 143610 households that includes returnees and refugees in the following ten counties: Renk, Melut, Bor South, Twic East, Magwi, Torit, Aweil East, Aweil South, Jur River, and Yei. The additional financing will provide assets and services to increase food production by building the capacity of supported households in good agronomic practices and investing in improved agriculture production to achieve household food security. Under the agreement, new activities will be undertaken to enhance animal health, sustainable fishing and fish post-harvest handling, promote locally constructed fuel-efficient stoves (FES) and protect the environment.
The workshop was attended by 43 participants from the national and state ministries of agriculture and food security, Ministry of Livestock and fisheries, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Transitional National Legislative Assembly, FAO, World Bank, University of Juba, and Upper Nile University. The activities of the workshop include presentation of the draft output agreement and discussions. At the end of the workshop, the participants unanimously passed the output agreement.
The workshop was opened by the Hon. Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Josephine Lagu Yanga. Other dignitaries that made remarks in the workshop include t the Hon. Minister of Livestock and Fisheries Adigo Onyoti, the TNLA chairperson of the specialized committee for agriculture and food security Hon. Dr. Garda James Khilla, Undersecretary of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS) Hon. Dr. John Kanisio Ogoto, FAO County Representative Mr. Meshack Malo, and the World Bank Task Team Leader for RALP Juvenal Nzambimana.
In the opening remark, Hon. Josephine Lagu Yanga hailed the timely approval of the additional financing. She stated that the funds came at a time when floods are anticipated to increase due to the increased release of water from Uganda, which is expected to exacerbate the flooding, which is estimated to affect over 3 million people in the flood-prone counties of South Sudan.
The Hon. Undersecretary for Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. John Ogoto Kanisio welcomed the participants of the workshop and assured them that their views will be incorporated into the output agreement.