By Adia Jildo
A National Agri-business company, Kanybek General Trading and Investment Company Limited has launched a flour and blended bread factory in Juba.
The project is supported by 2SCALE a partnership program with International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), designed to incubate and accelerate inclusive business development in African Agri-food systems in the country.
Henk Van Duijin, President of the International Fertilizer Development Center said that South Sudan Agri-business needs to be supported for the country to become food secure as the country has huge potentials by producing agricultural products which will improve local development.
“Working with local companies, producing food for local markets, helping farmers to reclaim their land will help re-establish good agricultural land to show that agriculture activity would increase to feed South Sudan and become a major food producer in the region. There is a need for reinforcement of the local communities to grow food for the local market and make money in the market,”
He added that IFDC is a science-based public international organization working to alleviate global hunger by introducing improved agricultural practices and fertilizer technologies to farmers and by linking farmers to markets.
Meanwhile, Riko Ceaser, the Head of Agriculture Department at the Central Equatoria State Chamber of Commerce commended that the efforts exerted by the partners in alleviating poverty in South Sudan.
“I encouraged farmers’ cooperatives and agri-business companies to double their efforts in ensuring South Sudan, which relies entirely on food imported from neighboring countries, becomes food secure,”
However, Godfrey Kape, the Managing Director of Kanybek said that local production will reduce the cost of importation and also offer markets to local producers of maize grain and wheat in South Sudan.
“The project is supported by two- Scale a program designed to incubate and accelerate inclusive business development in African agri-food systems,”
Alana Sebit Owot, the Partnership Facilitator for 2SCALE South Sudan said the project helps link farmers to the market hence cutting cost, which would have been incurred due to transportation.
“Small holder farmers are complaining about markets, there are no markets for their goods,” he said.
He added that the localized project would also enhance internal financial flow within markets in the country.
“We depend on the importing products from outside so much so the significance of this project is to avail the affordable bread and flour to our consumers so that the traders do not go and buy from East Africa where they will incur a lot of cost of paying taxes on the way,” Sebit said.
He said the intervention has created impacts such as circulation of income in the hands of the farmers, suppliers creating a lot of opportunities to not only the farmers but other champions around the Agri-business.
