Budget increase for agriculture should have been prioritized during the oil boom

The plan by the Ministry of Finance and Planning to increase the budget for agriculture and food security to 10 percent in the 2024/25 fiscal budget should have been done in the years of the oil boom.

South Sudan used to earn huge revenues from oil sales from 2011 to 2015, and this was the right period to get the priorities right.

The country is prone to climate change impacts such as floods, drought and also conflicts which have contributed to more than 7 million people facing the risk of hunger this year.

 The agriculture sector is the lifeline of this country rather than the black gold (oil) which has not only fueled conflict, corruption, disease and pollution.

South Sudan has agricultural potential to become the bread basket of the region, but it’s instead relying heavily on imported food from neighboring countries, and yet only 4 percent of it’s fertile huge tracts of land is under use.

The poor mentality of many South Sudanese when it comes to taking up agriculture as a source of livelihood needs to end.