4.15 MB - Food Security Clusters

More documents

Recommendations

Info

South Sudan: How a new country can feed its peopleCan South Sudan Feed Itself?2 CAN SOUTH SUDAN FEED ITSELF?The potential for agricultural production inSouth Sudan is huge. Half of the total 82million hectares of agricultural land issuitable for agricultural production with theremaining half composed of marginal arableland, forests and wetlands. Yet currently only4.5% of the available agricultural land is undercultivation (FAO Land Cover Database, 2010).Figure 2.1 – Cereal production and requirements12000001000000800000600000The diverse fertile soil types spread across thecountry provide options for multiple food andcash crops production such as sorghum, maize,groundnuts, cassava, rice, coffee, sugarcane,tea, palm, nuts, vegetables and fruit plants.The intricate system of rivers, streams, swampsand lakes provides an environment to exploitirrigation and fishing potential.4000002000000production (net)requirements2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012Source: FAO/WFP CFSAM 2001 – 2012Figure 2.2 – Cereal balancesProduction and shortfalls1000002001During the period 2001 to 2008, netagricultural production more thandoubled from a little above 400 000tons in 2001/02 to a million tons in 2008/09.However, in 2009/10 the country sufferedsevere drought and production declined to anestimated 700 000 tons in 2010/11. The netcereal production declined even further in2011/12 to as low as 560 000 tons (Figure 2.1).0-100000-200000-300000-400000-5000002001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 201220022003200420052006200720082009201020112012Source: FAO/WFP CFSAM 2001 – 201212
1997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012ton/haSouth Sudan: How a new country can feed its peopleCereal output has not kept pace withconsumption requirements. The surge inpopulation from 6.4 million in 2001 to morethan 9.6 million in 2012, partly attributable tothe influx of returnees and refugees, hasincreased the annual cereal requirement toabout one million tons.Over the last decade, South Sudan has only producedsufficient staple foods in two years (2004/05 and2008/09) and this was thanks to favourable weatherconditions (see Chapter 6). Generally, food shortagesare becoming more acute each year, resulting in arecord high deficit of almost 475 000 tons in 2012(Figure 2.2).Figure 2.3 – Net cereal yields (traditional and mechanized)1.41.210.80.60.40.2Traditional0MechanizedA series of graphs presented in Figure 2.4 showthe cereal balances by state. Eastern Equatoria,Unity, Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Jongleiconsistently produce less than theirrequirement levels. Western Equatoria,considered as the bread basket of South Sudan,was the only surplus producing state in the lasttwo years. Central Equatoria, Warrap and Lakesstates were surplus producing areas until2009/10 but now have negative cereal balancesbecause of conflict and drought.YieldsYields are low, and the average of allcereals is generally below one ton perhectare. With limited areas irrigated,yields are weather-dependent and fluctuateaccording to good or bad rainfall years. While2008/09 registered record average yields above1.2 tons per hectare the average dropped to halfof that the following years because of theimpact of drought (Figure 2.3).In fact net yields have increased little over thepast 15 years – up from 0.69 tons per hectarebetween 1996-2000 to 0.87 tons per hectarebetween 2006-2011 (Table 2.1).Source: FAO/WFP CFSAM 2001 – 2012Table 2.1 – Average yields (traditional farming)PeriodYield1996 – 2000 0.692001 – 2005 0.792006 – 2011 0.87Source: FAO/WFP CFSAM 2001 – 2012Yields on mechanized farms, which areconcentrated in Renk in the Upper Nile state,are also very low and often below traditionalfarming practices. But mechanization does allowfarmers to bring more land under cultivation. Inthe traditional farm sector, plots are small withan average of 0.75 hectares cultivated perfarming household in 2012. Age-old farmingpractices, where plots of land are prepared byhand using rudimentary tools, limit the amountof land that a household can farm. In addition,security concerns and the risk of looting detersfarmers from investing in land preparation andseeds and restricts them to cultivating smallplots close to home (see Chapter 5 on conflict).13
Page 2 and 3: Front page image: Lydia Wamala/WFPA
Page 5: Report on Food Security and Nutriti
Page 11 and 12: MAPS/TABLES/FIGURESList of MapsMap
Page 15 and 16: BACKGROUNDFood Security backgroundF
Page 17 and 18: MeasuringFood Insecurity inSouth Su
Page 19 and 20: South Sudan: How a new country can
Page 23 and 24: The hunger indexThe hunger index pi
Page 25: Underweight (%)South Sudan: How a n
Page 29 and 30: 19961997199819992000200120022003200
Page 33 and 34: CaloriesCaloriesSouth Sudan: How a
Page 35 and 36: CaloriesCaloriesSouth Sudan: How a
Page 39 and 40: Figure 3.12 - Wealth quintiles and

4.15 MB - Food Security Clusters

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?