Thursday, August 7, 2025 – Aweil, Northern Bahr El Ghazal State
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS) has officially inaugurated and handed over two state-of-the-art agricultural facilities including spacious community multipurpose farmers’ centers and seed stores to the state government and local county authorities in Northern Bahr El Ghazale State. These modern facilities built under the World Bank funded Resilient Agricultural Livelihoods Project (RALP) aim to enhance agricultural productivity, build farmers’ resilience, and strengthen rural livelihoods in Aweil East and Aweil South counties.
The handover ceremonies were held on August 5-6 in Aweil South, and Aweil East respectively, and featured the transfer of a package of modern agricultural infrastructures. These include fully equipped Multipurpose Community Farmer Centers, demonstration plots, seeds stores, and crop drying racks and slabs.
The Multipurpose Community Farmers’ Centers are designed to serve as local agricultural learning and service hubs. Each center includes a building for meetings and workshops complete with furniture, secure fencing, demonstration plots for training in good agricultural practices, and water yards for facilitating irrigation and climate-smart agriculture techniques on the demo plots. The centers are also equipped with value addition equipment, available for easy access to farmers at a fee for the service, such as maize threshers and mills, sorghum threshers, groundnuts shellers and paste making machines, and other critical agricultural production field tools and inputs. These will empower farmers to increase efficiency in agricultural production and reduce post-harvest loses through basic processing and value addition.
Speaking at the events, MAFS Deputy Minister Hon. Lily Akol praised the initiative and emphasized the government’s commitment to empowering farming communities across the country.
“These assets are a clear demonstration of our dedication to supporting farmers. With funding from the World Bank and implementation support from FAO, we are transforming agriculture into a more productive and resilient sector,” she said.
The facilities are part of the broader Resilient Agricultural Livelihoods Project (RALP)’s development objective of building the capacity of farmers and their organizations to improve agricultural production. RALP is a five-year initiative that began in June 2021, with an initial budget of US$62.5 million, which later increased to USD 93 million in 2024 through an additional financing of US$30.5 million. The project is owned by the Government of South Sudan, funded by the World Bank, and implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), with technical oversight and supervision by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food security, across 13 selected counties, including Aweil East and Aweil South in 7 states.
The beneficiaries of RALP and community members welcomed the facilities, noting their potential to significantly uplift agricultural production and livelihoods. With these new centers, farmers will have better access to agricultural extension services like trainings on improved climate smart technologies, and market-oriented farming practices.
The handover marks a major step forward in revitalizing South Sudan’s agricultural sector and positioning farming as a key driver of food security and economic stability in the region.
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