Tong Akeen Ngor, Governor of Northern Bahr El Ghazal State during the launch of the planting of two million trees in Aweil Town along Maper Akot road - Credit | Office of the Governor-Northern Bahr El Ghazal State 2022 | Friday 22 April, 2022

The government of Northern Bahr el Ghazal has launched the planting of 2 million fruit trees in the state.

Anei Deng Anei who is the state minister of agriculture says the move is to preserve the environment and combat desertification in the region.

He says the trees shall be planted in five counties of the state.

The fruit tree seedlings include mango, lemon, orange, guava, avocado, Indian mango, among others.

According to Deng Anei, the climate change is affecting the agricultural production in the state

The event was launched on Friday under the theme keep the Town green.

Last week youth-led organization, Greening South Sudan and the Episcopal Church launched a campaign to plant 10 million fruit trees in Central Equatoria in the next ten years.

This step came after the government of Western Equatoria State in January this year directed county authorities to plant at least 5,000 fruit tree seedlings.

According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, an estimated 18 million acres of forest, which is roughly the size of the country of Panama, are lost each year.

South Sudan has been experiencing extreme heat -reaching levels of 40 degrees Celsius -since the end of last year.