The document discusses research and technology options for increasing crop yields and soil fertility in South Sudan. It provides background on South Sudan's land use and challenges facing its agriculture sector. Specifically: - South Sudan has significant arable land but most agriculture is traditional and rain-fed, leading to low and unstable yields. - Two civil wars resulted in loss of seeds, farming skills, and interest in agriculture. Overall crop yields are very low across the country. - Options discussed to address this include on-farm research trials of techniques like intercropping and cover crops, providing agricultural inputs, improving infrastructure, and emphasizing applied research and extension services. The goal is to develop sustainable solutions to boost yields and soil health

1. Research and technology options
for increasing crop yields and
enhancing soil fertility
By
A.L. Abate
University of Juba

2. South Sudan Eco-Zones
 Potentially arable land 195,000 km2 (30%)
 Grazing land 260,000 km2 (40%)
 Heavily forested 146,000 km2 (23%)
 Swamps & water 45,000 km2 (7%)
surfaces

3. South Sudan Eco-zones & Human Activities
 Arid Belt Gum collection and marketing
 Green Belt Agriculture e.g. tea, palm oil, food crops
 Flood plains Mainly cattle keeping; some agriculture
 Hills & Mountains Mixed agriculture
 Ironstone Plateau Predominantly agriculture with livestock
 Nile/Sobat corridor Cattle and fish

6. Consequences of two Wars on South
Sudan Agriculture
• Loss of germ plasm
• Loss of farming skills
• Loss of interest in farming
• Development of alternative sources of livelihood

7. Recent statistics
 More than 80% of cereal production grown by
traditional methods
 90% of agricultural production is rain fed
 Crop failures are common
 Overall, very low crop yields
 between 10 to 30 % in Eastern Equatoria
 between 1 to 10 bags of 50 kg maize per acre in parts of
Western Equatoria
 Total lack of quality seeds
 Flooding prevents planting in Northern Bahr el
Ghazal

8. Performance indicators of South Sudan
agriculture
Parameter South Sudan Kenya Uganda
Rural share of population, % 99.9? 67 86
Arable land of land area, % 30.0 7.0 25.7
Arable land per capita, ha 6.4 0.14 0.24
Irrigated land of cropland, % ? 1.5 0.1
Fertilizer use, 100g ha-1 of arable 0 346 6.0
land

9. RESEARCH OPTIONS FOR SOUTH
SUDAN
 Action Research
On-farm trials
Demand-driven Research
Applied Research
Adaptive Research

10. INTERVENTIONS FOR INCREASING
YEILDS - a
 Intercropping
 Crop rotation – seasonal or annual
 Use of cover crops
Reduced tillage – minimum tillage
Composting
Organic matter additions

11. INTERVENTIONS FOR INCREASING
YEILDS - b
 Provide agricultural inputs
 Provide better agricultural practices
 Form farmer cooperatives
 Initiate farmer cooperatives

12. INTERVENTIONS FOR INCREASING
YEILDS - c
 Improve road infrastructure
 Emphasize applied agricultural research
 Develop a suitable extension service
 Encourage FDI

13. Thank you for
listening