Videos: Helping Farmers Grow in South Sudan
Margret Oliver Duku, a farmer in South Sudan, raises maize, beans, cassava, and sorghum. She has been farming for decades, but recently has prospered thanks in part to assistance from a project led by Abt Global.
The Food, Agribusiness, and Rural Markets (FARM) Project was a six-year effort begun in 2010 to increase agricultural production, build rural markets, and improve public and private capacity in South Sudan. USAID funded the FARM project, which was led by Abt.
Despite the volatile political climate of the world’s newest nation, FARM yielded impressive results by working with 14,155 farmers through 542 farmer-based organizations in the country’s southernmost region. FARM trained progressive farmers as community models, distributed improved seed, developed demonstration farms, introduced mechanization and new storage mechanisms, organized first-time agricultural fairs, developed market information systems, and helped cooperatives engage directly in formal markets.
These efforts led to a massive 534 percent increase in yields of maize, a chief staple crop, and more than 6,000 farmers applying improved technologies or management practices.
Duku said the assistance provided to her by the FARM project ultimately helped her raise her children and send two of them to college in Uganda.
Watch a short video about Duku and another video about the FARM project:
