Hosting Eastern Equatoria State Ministers in South Sudan

EASTERN EQUATORIA STATE, SOUTH SUDAN – We were honored to share our work in Eastern Equatoria State’s Torit County with two state dignitaries last week.

Ochola Bosco Oringa, Eastern Equatoria Minister of Agriculture, Environment, and Forestry, and Margaret Idwa Okuye, Eastern Equatoria Minister of Culture, Youth, and Sports, toured the vegetable production learning farm in Torit County, seeing the many sustainable techniques on display.

Established in February as part of our work with SNV under the Horticulture Value Chain Capacity Building for the Community Driven Rural Development Project in South Sudan project, the learning farm serves as a training center for agricultural extension staff, community agriculture facilitators, agro-input dealers, and farmers.

The ministers expressed their appreciation for the learning farm and were impressed with the variety of agricultural innovations. A favorite was the leaf pots used to hold seedlings, which the dignitaries had not encountered before.

Minister Oringa, who chairs the Community Driven Rural Development project in Eastern Equatoria, commended EWS-KT for the technical farming support we are providing.

Minister Okuye also recognized the learning farm for helping to inspire young people toward job creation and self-resilience—something that is particularly important considering the state’s high youth unemployment rate.

We thank the ministers for their visit, and we are proud to contribute to building the capacity of agricultural trainers and farmers in Torit Country and elsewhere in South Sudan.