FILE PHOTO: Yambio-Ezo-Tombura road. (Courtesy).

The Commissioner of Ezo County in Western Equatoria is appealing for the rehabilitation of a 100-mile highway connecting the area with Yambio to enable them to transport their product to the markets.

Abel Sudani stated that the farmers in the area have produced enough food, but there is no good way to transport it to the market.

Commissioner Sudani said local farmers have produced enough food including rice, groundnuts and maize, which are being sold in bulk to traders in the area.

“Regarding the agricultural production of this year, Ezo County has exceeded its production target, especially on g-nuts, maize, and rice,” he told Eye Radio.

“Currently, we are receiving people from the state and Juba who are buying g-nuts from the ground here to take it to Juba, so this is some good news that we are seeing our farmers progressing.”

“But the problem is that this year, people are sealing their G-nuts in bulk. Last year, they could not sell their g-nuts in bulk because we have some insecurity in the neighboring Tambura.”

Commissioner said the farmers are desperately waiting to see means of transport to Yambio and Juba for them to have direct access to the markets.

He appeals to road authorities from the state and national government to help them in repairing a 100-mile muram road that connects the area with Yambio.

He said travellers now take 6 to 8 hours to reach Yambio along the highway that used to take only one and a half hours – a situation he attributed to potholes, muddy and broken sections of the road.

“We are appealing to our national government and state government also to consider the road connecting Ezo to the capital so that the produce and all that we have here can be taken to Yambio and also part of it can be taken to Juba.”

“It is accessible but rough; it can take you more than six hours to reach, but when the road is ok, it is one hour and a half. You will reach Yambio according to the speed you are using,  but this one now you can’t even exceed 40 kilometers per hour.

South Sudan remains one of the countries with the most underdeveloped road networks in the world, according to the World Bank.

The world finance organization states that most interstate roads consist of badly or non-maintained dirt roads, with only 300km of sealed roads and one sealed international highway linking Juba to Uganda.

This is despite the government’s allocation of a huge volume of crude oil to Chinese companies to build roads in 2019.