Planted area has increased by 6 percent compared to the previous year primarily thanks to favorable weather conditions. ©FAO/Andreea Campeanu

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and the National Bureau of Statistics have released the preliminary findings of the Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) report, a key tool to support monitoring activities and the whole crop sector of South Sudan. 

The results follow the crop and food security rapid assessments a task force from FAO and the World Food Programme (WFP) started to conduct in December 2020 in all states of South Sudan carrying out 22 missions and over 1 000 studies and interviews during the harvest time in 2020. 

The major findings show that in 2020 the planted area has increased by 6 percent compared to the previous year primarily thanks to favorable weather conditions, but is still far from reaching the pre-conflict levels. The planted area expanded in Bahr El Ghazal region while remained unchanged in Greater Upper Nile. Despite an overall expansion also in the Greater Equatoria region, the breadbasket of the country, some counties in Eastern Equatoria experienced an opposite trend due to widespread insecurity. The cultivated area sharply declined also in Jonglei and Upper Nile states due to floods and conflict that disrupted people’s livelihoods.

Nearly 1.26 million farming families, 5 percent more than 2019, increased their production of sorghum, maize, rice, millet and other crops. The findings also show that cereal production benefitted from the expansion of harvested area and from favorable rains in most cropping areas and that despite floods, this year’s production surpassed the average of the previous five years. The availability of additional family labour due to the closure of schools has also contributed to cultivating more land.

“These findings show that peace is paramount to a prosperous agricultural sector,” said Meshack Malo, FAO Representative in South Sudan, “Our priority is to increase production and to allow farmers to cultivate their crops safely and contribute to the expansion of planted areas in their country.”

Despite improved cereal production and reduced cereal food gap, the impacts of floods on food security are magnified in the states of Warrap, Jonglei, Upper Nile and Unity with at least 21 counties in Emergency (IPC Phase 4.) In Jonglei, about 12 000 tonnes of cereals were lost, 26 892 hectares of cultivated land were damaged, 711 400 heads of livestock were affected while 48 000 perished. In these areas, livestock productivity and milk production have dropped due to widespread livestock mortality, a threefold increase in livestock diseases and limited availability of forage.

Finally, the findings of the FAO/WFP CFSAM report estimate the food gap in 2021 to be lower than 2020 though it still continues to be higher than the five years average. However, the cereal deficit has increased in Jonglei, Upper Nile and in some selected counties of Warrap State. The full CFSAM report is expected to be released at the end of February 2021.