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Agriculture College in South Sudan

The airport in Yei, South Sudan.

South Sudan is a nation in need of food. Over 20 years of war meant that all the food storage was used up, and the capacity to work the land and grow food was drained. Every able person carried a gun or ran around carrying bullets for the fighters. Even the women were part of the war. No one was left to do farming.

Now, after the war, a new nation has been born. Yet, much of the population is battle-weary and traumatized. While southern Sudan is in need of healing for its citizenry, the vast fertile land needs to be farmed.

An agricultural college is indeed timely for this part of Africa that receives adequate rainfall all year round and has fertile land. In response to a request from the Commissioner of Morobo Country to set up a training center, Ibrahim Omondi traveled from HISG's Nairobi office to the South Sudanese village of Yei in early January.

The Commissioner, His Excellency Ofeni Nyota, officially welcomed HISG to Morobo. He said that we were free to choose any part of Morobo County that we felt was suitable for an agricultural college. Such an institution would be the first one in Southern Sudan and having it in Morobo would be a great honor for them.

In a meeting with an area Chief and village elders, Ibrahim was shown a beautiful plot of land in a sparsely forested area. A seasonal river marking its boundary at one end. As we walked through the property, I was anxious to know how much of this they would be willing to give to the project. “We can start with 1,000 acres,” came the reply. The Chief must have noticed Ibrahim's shock, and perhaps was worried that it was not enough. He quickly added, “That is just to start with. After things are going, we can give you more.”

The door of opportunity is wide open for effective, holistic and sustainable development in this new nation. Equipping the Sudanese with skills and tools for farming will be the best place to start.