Farmers Review Africa July/Aug 2017 Farmers Review Africa July/Aug 2017 | Page 13

Country Focus
Crop-eating worms, cattle disease add to
South Sudan anguish
More than three years of ghting have slashed occurring in two northern counties where it was impossible” to eliminate the pest, which arrived
South Sudan's oil output and le half its people declared by the United Nations in February. on the continent from the Americas last year.
facing severe food shortages. Now crop-eating
caterpillars and livestock disease are hitting the While South Sudan has sub-Saharan Africa's Deputy Finance Minister Amou Ambrose iik
world's newest nation's meagre other resources. third-largest crude reserves, ghting near the said by phone the two threats will “have a very
facilities in the north has curbed output. Last grave impact on the livelihood of the people.” e
e fall armyworms, already wreaking havoc year's spread of violence to a southern region government and FAO are seeking $1 million from
elsewhere in Africa, have destroyed vital corn once known as the country's breadbasket has donors to probe the damage from the armyworm
outbreak.
and sorghum crops and grazing land since stopped the tending of crops. More than 80
arriving in South Sudan in June. Meanwhile, percent of South Sudanese rely on agriculture
seven outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease this for their livelihoods.
'Devastating Effect'
Foot-and-mouth is a trans-boundary disease the
year have infected as many as a third of the
nation's 12 million cattle, a linchpin of the rural Food Pressure FAO says is one of the most serious threats to food
economy. As clashes between government forces Livestock makes up more than 30 percent of security and the global livestock trade. e
and rebels continue, damage to such key sectors South Sudan's gross domestic product, Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries said last week
is spreading more misery and may complicate according to the government. Local officials that South Sudan is seeking to work with
any peacetime rebuilding. f rom t h e U N ' s Fo o d an d Ag r i c u ltu re neighbours Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya to
It's “as if God is punishing South Sudan,” Lual Organization said that food-and-mouth had monitor cattle that cross borders and tackle the
Deng Lual, managing director of the Ebony become endemic, with a string of outbreaks spread.
Centre for Strategic Studies, a think-tank in the indicating it had spread countrywide, putting capital, Juba, said of the outbreaks. “It will pressure on “already fragile food insecurity.” Other illnesses such as lumpy skin disease and
bad and it is just adding fuel to the re.” e outbreak of fall armyworms -- caterpillars Combined, they're having a “devastating effect”
that get their name from the large numbers that on South Sudan's livestock-keeping communities,
Tens of thousands of people have died and more invade elds and eat leaves and stems -- could according to the FAO.
hemorrhagic septicemia have also been reported.
de nitely be devastating. e situation is already
than 3.5 million others have ed their homes due affect as much as 166,000 hectares (410,195 “It's not just the economy but the country as a
to the civil war that erupted in December 2013. acres) of South Sudan's 664,000 hectares of whole -- the survival of the country -- is at risk,”
An estimated 6 million people are facing drastic arable land, according to the Agriculture Lual said of the latest crises.
shortfalls in food, although famine is no longer Ministry. e FAO has said it's “nearly
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REVIEW AFRICA
July - August 2017