View of part of the Aweil Rice Scheme in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State. |31st May 2022. |Credit: Emmanuel J. Akile/Eye Radio.

The project is funded by the Norwegian government and implemented by the UN’s food agency.

Norwegian Ambassador Linkelin Nymann Berryman said that her government seeks to continue supporting small-scale farming and encouraging local food production.

“It is a large project that we are supporting with FAO and it is entails agriculture and food production,” said Nymann.

“With this program, we aim at increased food production, small scale farmers, adaption to new ways of farming and also to new ways of looking at crops and how to increase production.”

The UN reported earlier, that food insecurity in South Sudan is alarming – as hunger hit unprecedented levels this year.

Roughly about 65% of the population are severely food insecure, according to the World Food Program.

The agency also said nearly 3 million of the food insecure are on the verge of starvation and another 87,000 people are in famine-like conditions.

The areas that will benefit from the fund have not been mentioned.

“We want to see sustainable small-scale farming being supported in this country so that there can be more local food production,” Ambassador Nymann said further.