The governor of Western Bahr el Ghazal State, Sharif Daniel Sharif, on Monday received three tractors and six tricycles from the Office of the President to be distributed among the three counties of Jur River, Raja and Wau for agricultural use.
Speaking during the handover, Teresa Stephen Uding, the state’s minister for agriculture, said the equipment will boost agricultural production and improve food security in the state.
The equipment, donated by the Presidency, is intended to help communities at the grassroots level increase food production and improve the transportation of agricultural produce to markets.
The minister called on the commissioners to ensure that the tractors are used strictly for their intended purpose, warning against taking them to unauthorized locations.
“These tractors are not meant to be taken to locations that we, as the ministry, do not know about. They have been provided for food production,” she said. “We should tell our citizens that we do not want to see our people starving in the coming year. You should also use the tricycles to transport harvested produce to the markets.”
On his part, Jur River County Commissioner Santino Manut Akech appreciated efforts by President Salva Kiir and the state governor to provide the three counties with agricultural equipment.
“We are very happy because it is a great thing that we received such equipment. I thank our president and state governor Sharif Daniel Sharif,” he said. “The three counties will benefit a lot from this equipment, and I urge my brothers and sisters in Wau and Raja counties to make good use of these tools.”
Commissioner Akech said the state will have a bumper harvest next year with the help of the new tractors and that the tricycles will transport produce to markets.
In April 2015, President Kiir donated 1,000 tractors to all the states across the country; the whereabouts of the equipment remain unknown.
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