South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Okech Francis
Joseph Oketa had for three years lived as a refugee in neighboring Uganda and could not just find ease for his family who has to contend with limited access to basic needs.
The 57 year old South Sudanese fled Magwi in Eastern Equatoria during the heights of conflict in the region in 2017 seeking safety for safety across the border at Palabek in Northern Uganda.
With South Sudan implementing a peace agreement that has stopped fighting, Oketa has brought back his family and is now enjoying peace dividends.
“When I was in the camp, life was very difficult so when things got better this side, I decided I better come back here to do what I can for my family, Oketa told The Dawn in an interview in Magwi.
“I first returned alone in 2020 to check the security and prepare the home for the eventual return of the whole family,” he said.
Oketa is one of the thousands of people who are trickling back home on voluntary basis from refugee camps in neighboring Uganda.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has registered 160, 000 people who have so far returned in Eastern Equatoria since a peace agreement to end conflict in South Sudan was signed in 2018.
The implementation of the agreement through a transitional government of national unity that has encompassed all opposition parties in the administration of the country has created conducive environment for people to rebuild their lives.
Okera is a member of Cancoya Multipurpose Cooperative Society which has brought about 52 farmers together to engage in commercial farming. It also works with several other smaller groups making a total of 90 farmers at least, benefitting.
“I joined this group because in such a group, there is a lot of support from the members,” the 57 year old said.
“Before that, I had a lot of problems on getting money and I had to struggle for one year before I could bring my family back home,” he said.
“Now we are all together and Cancoya helps me with credit. I borrow money for school fees then pay back later.
The group has a village savings scheme that provides finances on a loan basis to its members.
The members include 27 women farmers including widows. It has also incorporated people living with disabilities and others who were vulnerable, the chairperson, Odong Anthony Okeny told The Dawn.
Okeny, a former refugee too said the only way for people to pick up their livelihoods quickly is to join such cooperatives.
“We have our farm and the land was given to us by the community. We signed an agreement with them and they gave us 200 feddans of land where we are now farming,” he said.
The group employs tractors and other tools to plant and weed and after harvest, sell to the communities at relatively cheap prices, according to Okeny. They plant mainly maize and beans, he said.
“Last year in the first season, we got 24 tons and in the second season we got 29 tons,” Okeny said.
“We are selling to the communities and we are helping the communities,” he said.
“If you go to the market and compare other people’s prices with that of the cooperative, ours is a bit down.”
Cooperatives have been a source of alleviation of people out of poverty quickly all over the world.
The World Bank, featuring a report on farmers in China’s Guizhou Province said cooperatives sow opportunities for poor farmers.
Organizing small-scale farmers into cooperatives can increase agricultural productivity and improve the marketability of their products, the report said, adding that as a result of greater scale and better organization in the cooperatives, products are standardized, production quality and quantity increase, there is greater access to market information and services, better bargaining power, and reduced overhead expenses.
It singled out Hu Maofen, a 55 year old member of the Changlong Tian Ma Farmers’ Cooperative in Guizhou noting that her family’s livelihood has been enhanced through the cooperative.
“Joining the co-op has increased our income. My husband and I don’t have to depend on our children anymore and can live on our own,” she said.
Equally for Xu Guangrong, a 41-year-old farmer in China’s Guizhou Province and a member of the Fuxing Tea Farmers’ Cooperative in Zheng’an County, joining the cooperative and buying shares has increased her income and helped pay for her two children’s living expenses in school.
Likewise, according to Okeny, the dividends of Cancoya is very evident on all its members.
“This cooperative is helping members. When we came back from the camp, we were not able to pay our children in school, we could not treat our children when sick and we did not have food in the house,” he said.
“Right now, our members have food in the house and we are able to send children to school and treat them when sick.”
