Agriculture Project

Norwegian People's Aid began agriculture activities with USAID/OFDA support in the mid 1990s. NPA began working on the East Bank of the river Nile in conjunction with the FFP Relief Food Distribution Project, but as FFP asked NPA to concentrate on the West Bank from 1997, so the OFDA agriculture activities followed to ensure shared infrastructure could be used.

The Agriculture Project was part of the overall Food Security (and Rural Livelihoods) Programme and fell under the overall goal of "Contribute to the right of the rural poor communities of South Sudan to have improved livelihoods." For the period 2000 - 2007 NPA with donor support from FFP, OFDA and MFA Norway were able to manage an integrated package of appropriate interventions ranging from provision of relief food to targeted communities; basic agriculture support; and rural livelihood development in order to lead towards achievement of this goal.

Ezana Getahun

The war that finally ended with the signing of the CPA in 2005 had deprived the people of South Sudan any chance for their farming skills to evolve and NPA saw as a priority the need to introduce updated practices and technologies to the traditional skills still held by farmers. But equally important was the need to support returnees in their attempts to rebuild their lives in their home areas. This was closely coordinated with the relief food distribution project so that any agricultural inputs provided would be used optimally, as the returnees would have enough time and energy to cultivate and take the first steps on regaining basic food security.

The higher proportion of the rural population in Southern Sudan obtains its income solely from subsistence farming. For transforming lives and livelihoods in the rural areas of Southern Sudan, the starting point should be the improvement of agricultural productivity. Even though Southern Sudan is blessed with abundant natural resources, yields are very low and there are plenty of opportunities to raise them through technological change and diversification. Farmers in Southern Sudan need to improve both the quality and quantity of their production to ensure food and livelihood security.

The objective for the Agricultural Project during this period was "Increased agricultural production for targeted households through adoption of improved techniques and technologies."

The results expected for this objective were:

• Targeted households have received agreed agricultural inputs in good time for cultivation seasons and use appropriately.
• Targeted farmers trained on basic crop husbandry at FTCs and on own farm.
• Ox plough technology is transferred and adopted by targeted farmers.
• Improved varieties of seeds from Kenya/Uganda and local regions are available and utilized in operational areas.
• All local seeds required for purchase and distribution across the program are available from seed multiplication contact farmers and groups.
• Staff and CAD partners at County level are trained in sustainable agriculture to certificate level.

The agriculture project reached a peak in 2006/7 by working in 13 Counties across CEQ, WEQ, Lakes, Jonglei and EUN, with a range of interventions from provision of inputs to advanced training. Through regular presence of agriculture and monitoring staff on the ground, a complete picture of the agriculture production of targeted households is built up, noting area cultivated, factors affecting crop growth and yield expected. The level of the targeted households' access to adequate seeds in order to cultivate an area sufficient to produce enough food in the coming season is also estimated and inputs provided accordingly to enable them to increase production to a food secure level. The concurrent training and other interventions build on this basic approach and further enable the targeted households and communities to produce a surplus for marketing and as a provision against any future shocks.

It will be seen that the Agriculture project continued to follow the Relief Food Distribution Project as part of an integrated approach that was accepted by the donors. In the last 2 years covered by these reports, as NPA expanded their presence in Jonglei and Upper Nile States, so the provision of basic agricultural inputs to returnees in communities that had for many years been neglected by the international agencies became a priority. NPA still served traditional areas in Central Equatoria, but the feeling of NPA using their "added value," both in logistical skills and still with the ability to operate under insecure conditions, meant that other agencies could increasingly be left with provision of services to the relatively "easy" locations and states.

The Agriculture Project work during these 8 years lay good foundations for increasing concentration on more Rural Livelihood Development activities in the following years, as the chance was finally there to work with longer term plans through longer term funding.