By Hou Akot Hou
The governor of Northern Bahr El Ghazal state, Tong Aken Ngor on Wednesday urged the Ministry of Agriculture to expedite the process of distributing seeds to local farmers as the rainy season starts in May.
“The rice scheme played very good role last year, and now we want to ensure that our people go to the farms. I have directed the minister for agriculture to do massive campaign on farming and ask the partners to distribute seeds fairly,” Ngor told journalists after meeting with his minister of agriculture, Anei Deng Akok in Aweil town.
On his part, the Minister for Agriculture Akok said that they are facing challenges of repairing tractors in bad conditions in order to help farmers.
“I have presented challenges like the lack of spare parts for tractors. Some have broken down and we ask the partners to support us on those issues,” Akok said.
He said that so far they have installed 41 rain-gauges in some payams and state headquarters to measure the raindrops this year.
Akok said that partners have started registering farmers in preparation for upcoming seeds distribution exercise.
Northern Bahr El Ghazal is one of the most food insecure states in South Sudan.