Providing Long Term Food Security Through Agricultural Empowerment in South Sudan

In August of 2018 our team travelled to the remote village of Majok Goi in Aweil State in South Sudan. Due to heavy rains and harsh clay soil the whole area was nearly 3 feet under water. Crops were destroyed, homes were vacated, and the people were forced to spend the next months searching for higher ground and reliant on NGOs and Non-Profits to supply their next meal. In speaking with local leaders we learned that that regardless of the intensity of the flooding, the "hunger gap" was almost a yearly occurrence caused by arid soil, inefficient farming techniques, and most importantly the inability to harvest more than one crop per year due to flooding. We were surprised to see how inefficient the "farming" techniques in the area were. Most families bought some seed... broke up a 10x10 ft. area of ground, and then threw the seed in the air hoping it would grow. We realized that years of civil war had displaced the majority of the elders in the region, and that thousands of years of agricultural wisdom had been lost.

Our team devised a plan to train 100 villagers on modernized farming techniques, including dredging a 1 mile dike around a 25 acre plot of land set aside by the paramount chief. We broke ground in January of 2019 and broke our group into teams of ten. Over the next 9 months we dredged the dike, cleared the land, plowed the rows, fertilized the ground, planted seed, and we weeded the fields! We trained the group leaders and they trained their teams. We provided each farmer with enough food for their family, tools for their jobs, and education on proper agricultural principles. As they worked we noticed their confidence rise and their overall health improve. Ayat Wol Ayat, the second in command of the village commented,

As the rains came down, our farm was protected from the flood and we were able to harvest the Sorghum for the village. You can help us expand our farming project by donating today and/or hosting a fundraiser!

Donation Breakdown:

$5 = one day of food and education for a farmer and their family

$25 = 1 week of food and education for a farmer and their family

$100 = 1 month of food and education for a farmer and their family

$500 = 0.5 acre of land, 1 shovel, 1 pick, and food and education for his family for 100 days