GOSS and GONU Ignore Agriculture in South

26 March 2010 - (Khartoum) – The chairman of the Farmers’ Union in southern Sudan said that governments in both the north and the south have ignored agriculture in the region since 2005.

Paulo Fautang told SRS on Thursday in Khartoum that the federal government had been reluctant to release funding for agricultural production in the south.

[Paul Fuatang]: “The government which has been in power in Sudan since independence has never cared about agriculture in the south. They don’t support farmers from the south except farmers in Renk which is the northern part. And even the people that are cultivating in Renk are from the North. We have a very big problem in the south because we don’t get our dues even from the federal government. They tell ask to talk to the Government of Southern Sudan to give us support, yet the crops that we produce are for all the Sudanese people.”

Fuatang added that investing in agriculture in the south would boost the economy of the region.

[Paul Fautang]: “The soil of the south is fertile and it’s ready for cultivation. If the government of southern or northern Sudan concentrates on it, I am sure the success will be in the south more than in the north, because the lands are fertile and there is a large chunk of land for farming. The rains are very reliable in the south; the crops do not need fertilizers. It doesn’t need the chemicals.”

Farmer’s Union Chairman Paulo Fautang was speaking to SRS on Thursday in Khartoum.