The chairperson for the cooperative’s union in Magwi County of Eastern Equatoria State is appealing to the government to construct the road connecting Magwi to other towns in the state.
This comes after farmers in Pajok, Lobone, Owin-kibul, Palataka and Obbo expressed concerns about the poor road network that has affected transportation of food commodities to the market.
Mr. Otto Joseph Okwera the head of cooperative union in Magwi County says farmers have harvested enough yields but the biggest challenge is that the road is completely inaccessible.
‘‘Owin-kibul and Paluar, Obbo, Pajok, all these places are very productive in terms of maize and other food commodities production but the biggest challenge is the issue of the road to connect the food products from the cooperative to market in Magwi , Torit and juba ,’’ Otto told Singaita 88.3 FM.
‘’Now you find that it is very hard to access those areas unless for those using land cruisers and trucks. The road is very bad.’’
He explains that if the roads are rehabilitated, the spike in food commodities will reduce because prices are high in the market due to the bad roads.
‘’ We will not have to depend on imported food supply from neighboring like Kenya and Uganda if the roads are repaired,’’ he added.
He says South Sudan as a Country can fight and eradicate hunger through engaging more on agriculture, so the government needs to look at the issue of road connectivity.
South Sudan imports most of its food items such as tomatoes, onions, maize flour, cooking oil, dairy products, and beans from neighboring Uganda and Kenya and sorghum from Sudan.
Insecurity and poor roads, coupled with the country’s crisis, has hindered local farmers, entrepreneurs, and other local private sector partners from building local businesses and boosting the local economy.
The visiting Chief Executive Officer of the International Fertilizer Development Centre (IFDC), Henk Van Duijin recently said some states that can produce food such as Magwi County in Eastern Equatoria and Western Equatoria state have no good roads to access markets with their produce.