Food Shortages a Worry for South Sudan
03 October 2011
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
United Nations agencies are warning of food shortages next year in South Sudan. The Food and Agriculture Organization says the new country is likely to produce only half the food it needs this year. The FAO blames the situation on unpredictable rains, the return of thousands of refugees, and conflict.
In August, the FAO did a study called a rapid crop assessment. It estimated that farmers in South Sudan could produce, at most, five hundred thousand metric tons of food this year.
Commonly grown food crops in South Sudan include maize, groundnuts, finger millet, pearl millet, sesame and cassava.
South Sudan became an independent nation in July after years of civil war with the Sudanese government in Khartoum. People in the south depended heavily on food aid during the war. Now they are trying to produce more of their own food.
Separation from the north was peaceful when it came. But since then South Sudan has faced tribal and rebel violence in several areas. And many refugees have returned from the north, adding to the population.
South Sudan is one of the world's poorest countries. Last month, thirty-eight humanitarian agencies and aid groups wrote about the country's needs in a report for international donors. One of the groups that released the report, called "Getting It Right from the Start," was Oxfam. Surendrini Wijeyaratna is a spokeswoman for Oxfam in South Sudan.
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