South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Awan Achiek
The visiting Deputy Director-General of the U.N Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Beth Bechdol on Wednesday challenged young people to adopt farming as a means of earning a livelihood.
Bechdol, who arrived in the country on Sunday on a six-day trip, said there are enormous untapped opportunities in agriculture which the youths could take advantage of to improve their income.
“There’s such an opportunity for young people to get more engaged in agriculture,” Bethdol told journalists at a press conference held at U.N. FAO warehouse in Jebel suburb of Juba.
She said that youth can reap great benefits from undertaking agriculture as a source of income and in the process boost food production in the country.
“I grew up on a family farm in the United States, and I can appreciate that a lot of times young people don’t see agriculture or farming as being a job or a career that they want to pursue,” Bechdol said.
She said it was unfortunate that many people have always looked down upon farming as a dusty job which does not generate profit.
“But I believe that we have a huge opportunity to show the next generation of young people here in South Sudan, that there is a great opportunity to support themselves and their families through agriculture,” Bechdol said.
Bechdol is leading a high-level delegation – including Rein Paulsen, Director of the Office of Emergencies and Resilience, and Lifeng Li, Director of Land and Water.
Her visit comes amid concerns of a deteriorating food security situation expected to worsen due looming floods predicted to affect the country from June-July.
Between 600,000 and 3.3 million people are expected to be affected by food insecurity in 2024.
