JUBA: The upsurge in conflicts and rising fuel costs have hurt the ability of thousands of people, including returnees, to plant during the current rains, the United Nation’s Food and Agricultural Organisation said today as it launched a planting season campaign.
Fighting displaced an estimated 81,539 people between January and March of 2011, according to humanitarian agencies, and in some areas disrupted ground clearance and planting, while fuel prices have doubled in some places since February, increasing fares, food transportation and putting seed out of reach of vulnerable groups, including some 287 878 people who had returned by April.
The campaign, Every Seed Counts, will ensure that those who are able vigorously participate in the current planting and take advantage of rains projected at normal to above normal in most parts of southern Sudan.