Fight famine with farming in South Sudan

The war in Sudan has been raging now for more than 100 days.  Attempts for a truce, ceasefires, pleas from around the world to bring the war to an end, have all faltered. As people flee the violence, an estimated 150,000 refugees have crossed into South Sudan.  The majority are women and children.  They are returning to their home villages hoping to find shelter and food with family members.

On a recent day our team reported that 1,000 refugees arrived by boat into our village of Old Fangak.  It's estimated that around 30,000 displaced people have already arrived here, and in the villages nearby.  No agency is equipped to provide food for this many refugees.  And more are coming.

On the same day that these refugees arrived, our agriculture team was busy distributing seeds, seedlings, and watering cans.  They were in a nearby village called Guer.  A blue table outside of a large World Food Programmed tent was our workstation.  At Guer we signed up many new farmers.  We are close to reaching 1,000 farming households annually with this program.  Seeds, seedlings, and tools. All to fight famine.

Fighting famine with farming is working.  When you count extended family, at least 10,000 people benefit directly with food they grow on small plots of land.  The farmers are also selling their extra crops in the markets.  Refugees stepping off a boat in Old Fangak can find food that is grown locally and will be added to the food supplied by responding agencies.

One area of greatest need right now are tools for the new farmers.  Shovels, digging bars, machetes, hoes, and rakes.  A complete set costs $52.  As we add more farmers, we are in short supply of these tools.  A gift of $52 dollars will help one family.

The impact of your gift is measurable.  Families have food.  It’s not an abundance, but it is food that helps nourish their children.  It is food that the refugees coming from Sudan would not have available without the funds provided for this program.  Village by village, household by household, we are fighting famine with farming.  Thanks to you it is working.

Links:

• More about our work in South Sudan.

Passing through the market at Old Fangak you see many women selling vegetables and fruits.  Tomatoes, onions, melons, okra, eggplant. Most spread their harvest on coverings alongside the dirt path leading in and out of the marketplace.  Most cannot afford a permanent booth.  But the sales are made outside, and the farmers are happy.

Half of the farmers we help are women.  They have survived conflict and flooding.  They live in a system that typically does not provide equal opportunity for education.  Yet these stewards of the gardens are here raising money for their families and providing food for their community.  It is an exciting day for us as we witness the continued results of our project to fight famine with farming in South Sudan.

The region where we concentrate our efforts, Fangak County, South Sudan, has been underwater for over three years. Flood water overtook most of the dry land and now our farmers face the task of raising crops in a region mostly underwater.  In the last decade these women and men have already faced civil war, localized conflict, droughts, and crop damage caused by heavy rains. Now, here in the floodplain of the Nile River, the water rose to record levels resulting in loss of nearly all livestock and putting lives at risk by starvation and disease.

Yet this is a good day. The market is busy.  The farmers you support are happy to be here, and many more women and men have said they want to join this program.  It is working.

With the flooding our program is adapting and changing.  We are growing rice! While it is now nearly impossible to grow sorghum (a crop relied on for decades) the flooded land is perfect for growing rice! Just this week a dozen women and men gathered near Old Fangak to learn how to plant rice. Our trainers have the goal of training 100 farmers in the next few weeks.  In three months, they will have their first harvest.

Other farmers we’ve trained are already successfully growing rice and the first harvest was this March. Our team was excited beyond words as the rice mill we purchased began to remove the husk and bran from a harvest of 1,000 kg’s of rice.  Life changing.

Your support is needed now more than ever. We have over 800 farmers wanting seeds, tools and training this spring so they can fight famine with farming. We want to equip as many farmers as possible with the knowledge and the tools to grow and harvest rice.  There is so much promise.  Please consider what you can do to help.  Thank you.  I wish you were here to taste the rice. The best ever!

Links:

• http://www.ahpss.org