Farmers Union Need Agricultural Bank Established

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The Deputy Chairman for South Sudan Farmers Union, Mr. Deng Chol Deng has called on the government to re-establish the agricultural bank to help farmers get services in order to boost food security and production in the country.

Speaking to Gurtong in an exclusive interview yesterday, Mr. Chol urged farmers in South Sudan to register to the Farmers Union, so that together they can lobby for the government to re-establish the agricultural bank for their benefit.

“Without the Agricultural Bank the ordinary farmer can’t develop. The rainy season is near, now we are in January and in March the rains will start towards April, we need to start cultivating but without the bank’s support, we will not do anything. No government office can support an ordinary farmer unless the agricultural bank is operational,” Chol stressed.

“The most important thing for the government is to reinstate the bank immediately before April. That can happen if they present the Agricultural Bill to the National Assembly. The Minister of Agriculture can’t offer tractors or loans to farmers. The Ministry has no expertise in following after borrowers like the bank can do because the bank has rules for refunding the money,” Chol elaborated.

Mr. Deng Chol Deng who is a Member of Parliament from Upper Nile State under SPLM promised to raise a bill for the re-establishment of the agricultural bank. 
He revealed that famers in Renk County of Upper Nile State mostly use tractors acquired through a loan system from the Agricultural bank of Sudan and use boats and Lorries to transport their produce to the rest of the regions.

“Am using three tractors that I acquired through a loan from the agricultural bank of Sudan. After the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005 everything stopped because there were no agricultural banks in South Sudan after the split from Sudan,” Deng said.

“A sack of simsim is SSP 500 and SSP 200 pounds for Dura. I assume in August the price of Dura will increase to SSP 600 because all the States like Warrap, Jonglei and Unity need food but there is no sufficient supply due to transportation challenges,” he added.

Deng explained that before he was elected to represent his people in 2011 he cultivated almost 2,500 fedan of Dura which he has already harvested and 250 fedan of simsim.

“I have already harvested and stored waiting to be sold. The means to transport the farm produce is very difficult unless the government supports the famers transport their products,” Deng said.