Juba, 18.03.2025. On 04. and 12. March 2025 respectively, a farmers group in Magwi County and a farmer’s cooperative in Yei River County received an irrigation pump each to improve their challenging farming during dry season. The pumps were handed over by GIZ South Sudan as part of their project “Community-Driven Rural Development (CDRD). This will enable the farmers to produce crops and a variety of vegetables all year round. It is embedded in the project’s capacity development approach on farming as a business, which will lead to much needed higher crop production and income.
‘’With the installation of irrigation equipment I am convinced that our group will be able to sufficiently boost the water supply for a better crop growth and an increased vegetable production,’’ said Oringa Youny James, Vice Chairperson Wang Acholi Vegetable Group, Magwi County, during the handover and testing of the pump (see picture). His counterpart Festo Ade, Chairperson of Kembe one Cooperative Group, Yei River County, explained: “With off-season vegetable production, the farmers are expected to fetch better prices, enabling them to increase their household income.”
The groups plan to sell their harvests in the local markets, which will also make an important contribution to better food and nutrition security in the area.
In order to achieve sustainability, the activity is accompanied by long-term training, a maintenance concept for the irrigation pumps and the provision of agricultural equipment, among other things. With the provided support, the recipients also reach out and newly engage especially young people and women to get interested in vegetable farming as a business.
The project “Community Driven Rural Development (CDRD)” is jointly funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and implemented by GIZ in the framework of a four-year cooperation. The CDRD-project advocates for the development and amplification of high-yield, agroecological and climate-adapted agriculture and value chains to improve the living conditions and economic prospects of people in rural areas.
Through targeted interventions, the project advises regional administrations and civil society actors on development planning processes with a focus on conflict prevention and gender equality. At the same time, it helps smallholder farmers, women, and young adults in rural areas as well as community based agricultural organisations to gain better access to means of production, markets, and services in agriculture. The CDRD-project has been
implemented by GIZ since 2022 and has been upscaled thematically and geographically at the beginning of 2024 with the substantial co-funding from the Kingdom of the Netherlands.