Emmanuel Anur, 32, posed for a photo at his garden in Yei River County, Central Equatoria State. (Photo: Courtesy.)

Emmanuel Anur, a farmer in Yei River County flaunts his one-and-half-hectare farmland which has been the source of fresh and enough food for his family, but for business to boom, the 32-year-old now plans to expand it by several hectares to earn him surplus for sale.

Anur, a father of two, shares his farming passion, which he developed from a young age while growing up in a family where agriculture has been the sole mean of survival.

“I developed that passion right from childhood because every time in the morning before you go to school, you have to at least play your role, go to the farm,” he said in an interview with Eye Radio.

“You have to do some work, and that was how I got attracted to farming and also started believing because at a very tender age, I was able to recognize and also acknowledge the benefits of farming.”

In 2015, Anur graduated with bachelor’s degree in Agribusiness at Nkumba University – Uganda, a profession encompassing farming, food processing, and marketing of agricultural products.

After his graduation, Anur is currently involved in agribusiness with a special focus on commercial farming. He cultivates cereal crops like maize, a staple food in the area.

The native of Yei said he plans to expand his farming operations to three feddans in the upcoming farming season and aims to reach five feddans by next year.

“Currently I am producing cereal and I have so far started with one and a half hectares, that is one and half feddan and they are doing well so I have already planned to expand to a minimum of three feddans this coming season than next year, I will plan to expand to more than five feddans,” the farmer stated.

He said farming is a challenging industry, citing it requires attention and time to enable proper outcomes.

According to Anur, planting brings various challenges to the farmers beginning with the essential task of frequent preparations on the land.

Thus, insufficient land preparation can lead to unfavorable results, such as hindered seed germination due to compacted soil and weed invasion.

“Farming is a demanding field. I will not really go immediately to expand my farm, but I have to keep on measuring the result of every enterprise that I am venturing into.”

“The challenges start from the initial stage of land preparations, the moment you do not prepare the land very well, you expect very poor results sometimes when you plant your seeds.”

“They may not germinate because the soil particles are not well broken down and probably the weeds are also taking charge of the whole field, so it goes continuously. It is very important that farmers invest their time if they want to get a better result,” he said.

Anur said he used his small saving to invest in the farm but decries the high cost of tractor services in Yei River County.

According to him, it cost about 40,000 South Sudanese pounds for the first and second tillage adding that preparing a hector for planting costs over 100,000 pounds which he believes is very high.

“I am taking the expansion plan gradually; the aim here is to commercialize it because we have seen a very little picture of agriculture being portrayed outside people look at agriculture like it is for people who have failed and maybe people who are not educated.”

“So, the best way for us to increase production is to make it more commercial so that farmers who have been in the sector for so many years, but they have not really realized the commercial dividend they can be able to pick up some lessons from this kind of initiatives.”

– Costly farm produces in fertile areas –

Farmer Anur said he detests the high cost of farm produces in Yei, although the area is favorable to agriculture.

According to Emmanuel Anur, the high cost of food commodities in agricultural-producing areas such as Yei due to limited supply, high demand, production, and transportation costs.

He said these factors are combined with other challenges that influence the prices of food commodities in the market.

Anur adds that the high demand for food commodities, lack of investment in the agricultural sector, and urban migration has left few people engaging in farming.

“There are so many factors attributed, one of the factors could be access to the rural market in terms of roads and also transport,” he said.

“There are very many farmers who are producing in large quantities in rural areas but most of them there is so much constrained in terms of getting their produce to the rightful market.”

“Secondly, it could also attribute the number of people that are targeting the good prices in the urban centers like in the city.”

“You find that there really a package of factors that lead to that and we have to also acknowledge that there are many people who have already moved to town, and they are not in the agriculture sector and these many people who are in the town, they need food.”

– Subsistent farming – 

Anur said the current agricultural system in the country relies mainly on subsistence farming where farmers only produce for consumption.

“The biggest percentage of farmers are subsistent farmers, they are only producing for their households, and surplus is taken to the market to meet other basic needs so this is the main reason.”

Anur further said farming is not only a paying job but a well-paying occupation, where individual farmers earn on a daily basis – depending on the availability of farm produces.

“The positive experience as a person, I have seen that farming is a paying job, a well-paying occupation. It is difficult but it is a well-paying occupation and I attest that I have benefited a lot from farming and there are other small projects that I do relate to agriculture that are really supporting my livelihood a lot.”

Though the farming sector has positive aspects, Anur said access to fertile land in rural areas remains a major challenge to the sector.

Other challenges facing the sector, according to him, include limited manpower and mechanization.

“If I want to go and open probably an agricultural project far away from the town, I may be limited because of accessibility in terms of having the rightful labor in that place, and taking the rightful machines for instance tractors these are some of the challenges it may not be necessary the security but lack of the labor force in that particular location.”

“Things to do with the nature of the road sometimes can be one of the constrain that it might really constrain a lot so the experience is really vast but it depends on individual perspective.”

Recommendations  

Emmanuel Anur believes that for South Sudan to transform the agricultural sector from subsistence to commercial, the country needs to embark on a developmental program that encourages the use of mechanization farming.

According to him, this can only be achieved if the government strengthens the sector including provision inputs and other financial resources to the farmers.

“For us to get out of this situation, it is very important that a massive agriculture development program should be initiated and in this case.”

“The government can also lay its part by ensuring that the sector is strengthening in terms of access to mechanization or access to soft loans for farmers so this can really increase the number of farmers who are trying to commercialize the agriculture sector,” Anur stressed.

Another key area Anur believed can help increase food production in the country is the inclusion of agriculture as an integral part of government programming.

“The government has a very huge role in ensuring that the sector strives in terms of investing in more resources into developing the sector one by ensuring that the agricultural programs are prioritized and they become part of an integral part of any government programming.”

“It can enhance food production and also contribute to a reduction in the prices of food commodities the second thing is the sector should not be neglected when it comes to budgeting, agriculture should actually be among the top position sector in the government budget but we have seen that the sector should be neglected.”