Manyiel Sticks to Land to Move Her Family Forward

Be it sweltering heat or hard hitting rains that rage over the land, South Sudanese mother, Nyandeng De Manyiel never puts behind the one work that supports a living for her household, farming.

By Benjamin Takpiny

Be it sweltering heat or hard hitting rains that rage over the land, South Sudanese mother, Nyandeng De Manyiel never puts behind the one work that supports a living for her household, farming.

The 48 year old is a mother of eight children, has a farm in Ruweng and with proceeds from agriculture, pays for their education and stuffs their bellies with food.

“The small farm I have is helping me a lot. My children are eating from it and I am paying school fees,” Manyiel told The Dawn from Ruweng recently.

She plants vegetables as well as cereals to shore up food in the house and sell off the surplus.

In South Sudan, a dire economic crisis has created a staggering inflation that has shot up prices of commodities and eroded purchasing power as the South Sudanese Pounds falters sharply.

It is not all over though as the country keeps pace with a transitional arrangement set in place to end conflict which began in 2013 and created political setbacks as well as the economic crisis.

Other disasters including floods and drought, as well as the covid-19 pandemic four years ago plus regional stability have also had their toll on the livelihoods of the people in South Sudan.

Despite all those, people, enjoying the lull in conflicts have begun resettling in their homes and revamping the building of livelihoods lost.

The government is taking haste in promoting agriculture in South Sudan. The budget for the financial year 2024/2025 has seen a bigger chunk provided to the agriculture sector compared to previous years, reaching 10 percent of the overall budget of about 2.3 trillion South Sudanese Pounds.

To understand how agriculture beefs up economic development of a nation we can look at the article, “Agricultural and rural development in China during the past four decades: an introduction, which notes how China’s agricultural development over the past four decades which have witnessed unprecedented economic growth and rapidly rising food demand in China.

China’s agricultural sector itself has experienced a rapid transformation over the four decades with a sharp shift away from a strategy that focused on enhancing the yields of traditional crops to one that is seeking to produce high-value cash crops and meat products.

In South Sudan’s countryside, banking on the peace, farming communities have started opening up agriculture land to produce food for a country that is one of the most fertile in the region yet hunger persisted.

Manyiel who has been farming in the last four years is simply optimistic on increasing output.

She however noted the need for support in order to flourish in farming.

“I bought some cows to pay for dowry in the marriage of my son, I bought a donkey to help bring water, and I am paying school fees,” Manyiel said.

“I need support so that I can be able to expand my farm,” she said.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *