Minister Hussein Abdelbagi Ayii Akol|Courtesy

The South Sudan government has committed SSP 62 billion to support agriculture for the year 2025-2026 amid a decline in international aid and uncertainty in oil revenue, according to the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security.

Hussein Abdelbagi Akol revealed this during the 3rd edition of the Juba Economic Forum, which concluded last week with 40 resolutions to improve agriculture.

“As international aid declines and all oil revenues remain uncertain, agriculture is our best path to rely on. The South Sudanese government recognizes this and has committed 62 billion South Sudanese pounds to support agriculture in the 2025 to 2026 season,” he said.

Minister Akol said the funds will be used to provide fuel, seeds, and advisory services to farmers across the country.

The minister further announced that of the 100 procured tractors, 40 have been allocated to the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) to enhance agricultural productivity.

“The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security has secured over 100 tractors to modernize farming through new agricultural and mechanical services centers that will save farmers in rural areas.

“40 tractors have already been allocated to SSPDF to boost secure food production and reduce reliance on imports.”

Mr. Akol added that to improve farming techniques, the national government is collaborating with states and administrative areas to designate 250,000 fedans for demonstration farms, where farmers can learn and adopt modern agricultural practices.

He urged diplomatic missions and the private sector to shift from short-term to long-term investment in agriculture.

“To our development partners and diplomatic mission, we ask you to shift from short-term to our long-term investment in agriculture.  To the private sector, we urge you to invest in irrigation, storage, and expert logistics to strengthen our food system,” he added.

Minister Akol emphasized that boosting domestic agricultural production is now a national priority, as the country seeks to enhance food security and reduce dependence on volatile external funding sources.

Resolutions of 3RD Juba Economic Forum

However, at the recently concluded Juba Economic Forum, participants came up with 40 resolutions to spur agricultural activities for economic growth as hereunder:

1. Enabling Conditions Crucial for Success for Commercial Agriculture to Thrive. South Sudan must ensure peace and stability, good governance, road accessibility, a stable exchange rate, and a culture of transparency and accountability.
2. Leverage South Sudan’s natural resources for agribusiness launching campaigns, incentives to attract investment into underutilized, fertile land and water resources.
3. Provision of agricultural farmlands and investment to guarantee credit facilities and food security.
4. Improving of infrastructure by providing electricity, education, feeder roads to access the farm, and other investment areas.
5. Provision of a subsidized license to agribusinesses and farmers.
6. Forming and empowering cooperative societies to boost and increase agricultural production.
7. The private sector should redirect its capital and energy towards productive agricultural ventures in farming, agro-processing, value chains, irrigation mechanization, storage and export-import logistics.
8. Preserve our indigenous seeds that are resistant to our climatic conditions and also invest in agricultural research centers.
9. Building an agricultural value chain industries, it includes every step involved in the production, processing, packaging, distribution, and marketing of agricultural goods.
10. Enhance capacity building by ensuring that our graduates and laborers get the adequate skills necessary for agricultural practices.
11. Ensure that the local governments allocate grazing land for pastoralists and farming land for crop producers.
12. Credit-granting programs by introducing government-backed or donor-backed support credit grantee schemes to support large agricultural investment.
13.  Experience sharing at national, regional, and international levels by drawing lessons from successful agricultural schemes.
14. Enforce policies that encourage deposits by financial intelligence units to boost financial transparency and foster increased deposits.
15. Acceptance of movable collateral by encouraging commercial banks to recognize movable assets like farm equipment, livestock, and harvest as collateral.
16. Temporary implementation of interest rate subsidies provided for agricultural loans to reduce the cost of borrowing and stimulate investment.
17. Implement policy by ensuring that title deeds are registered so that farmers can be able to get loans from the bank using their land as collateral.
18. Strengthen policy and institutional frameworks on the commercialization of agriculture.
19. Promote technology adoption and innovation.
20. Foster partnerships among government development partners and the private sector to spark agricultural development.
21. Encourage capacity building and farmers’ employment through the use of operators.
22. Adoption of the great treaties of the East African community to encourage harmonization and fair transition between South Sudan and other regional member states.
23. Development and realignment of clear policies and land rights with priority on demarcation of land for commercial agriculture, Mortgage Act, and registration of titles laws.
24. Improvement of milk and milk handling, processing, and historic equipment along the entire value chain.
25. Investment in livestock markets, arbiters, and improvement in auction systems, standardized ways, and grading, and reduced informal taxes as a way to stimulate commercialization of livestock.
26. Establishment and strengthening capacity of the institutions that design and coordinate seed breeding programs, such as the National Seed Certification Body and the National Seed Administration.
27. Establishment and equipment of an accredited national laboratory for seed testing and certification.
28. The government and its stakeholders should exercise ownership of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement through ratification and domestication of the agreement.
29. Value addition and industrialization should be a focus for South Sudan’s government and private sector so as to positively contribute to the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.
30.  Empowerment of youth with the necessary skills and knowledge to manufacture agro machinery locally in a bid to create employment opportunities and inspire agricultural development.
31. Build real-time agricultural data systems for tracking production trends, yields, market flows, and risks to inform policy making.
32. Adoption of renewable energy such as solar energy as an over-grid solution to poor agricultural projects.
33. Strengthening inter-agency cooperation and coordination at all levels of government, that is to say, the local government, the state government, and the national government.
34. A mindset change for farmers from subsistence to commercial agriculture, is silent.
35.  Benchmarking of international quality and standards in the commercialization of the agricultural value chain.
36. Overhaul of the taxation system to avoid multiple taxation and overburden on the farmers.
37. Implementation of standards and quality requirements by farmers, producers in all agricultural processes for the production of post-harvest handling and packaging