Women keen on farming in Lakes State are striving to form a cooperative to ensure food security through large scale agriculture.
Diar for Rehabilitation and Development Association director Karak Mayik Denyok hosted 30 women from Panliet Farmers’ School of Yirol West County at a women’s farm in Rumbek East County.Madam Karak told Good News Radio that women from Panliet Farmers’ School and from Gok Akon and Makernhom, in Rumbek East, shared farming experiences.
She added that there was mutual exposure and that the women are ready to work together to bring a positive change to society.
Madam Karak expressed optimism about networks of women farmers in the state, revealing that the women from Panliet Farmers’ School will unite with those of Gok Akon and Makernhom to form a cooperative.
She said that the Women Farmers’ Cooperative aims to promote large scale farming in crops like maize and sorghum to ensure food security and self-sufficiency in South Sudan.
Madam Karak cited lack of a good road network as the main challenge the farmers are currently facing, hindering women from Rumbek East from accessing the market with their crops.
Mary Achien Manyol, a member of the Panliet Women group, said she was impressed by the great work her fellow women are doing in Rumbek East.
She described the visit as enriching and motivating.
Panliet Farmers’ School has close to 500 women actively engaged in cultivating maize, sorghum and groundnuts among other crops on a 36-hectare piece of land in Yirol West County.
Diar for Rehabilitation and Development Association established the project in January 2011 with the support of Total, the French Oil Company.