The Vice President said government has to integrate and illustrate commitment in carrying out its strategic national policies, including its budget.

By Lodu William

The Vice President for the Government Economic Cluster, Dr. James Wani Igga called for the implementation of comprehensive policies to foster investment in the country.

Igga spoke during the Third edition of the inauguration ceremony of the Juba Economic Forum under the theme “promoting Commercial Agriculture as a pathway to Economic Stability”.

He said the government has to integrate and illustrate commitment in carrying out its strategic national policies, including its budget.

“We must develop and implement comprehensive and coherent policies that foster productive sector investment while ensuring effective public sector support for all the initiatives and innovations,” Dr. Igga added.

The Vice President further advised the agricultural producers to adopt innovative agricultural techniques and technologies in order to increase production.

 “At the end of this economic and agricultural trip, the distinguished ladies and gentlemen, our purpose and role of producers had to adopt innovative practices using emerging technologies.

“If we are to change and improve our farmers, then the farmers must invest in boosting agricultural production innovations to capture a larger share of the domestic and regional markets in a way of competition, which is important as competitiveness, technically, that we must do,” Igga stated.

Dr. Igga added that the government is devoted to ensuring that both local entrepreneurs and international investors find this beloved country a friendly place and a welcoming hub for investment.

“Policy and reforms have been implemented to reduce barriers to entry, improve our infrastructure, and guarantee security for investment. These efforts underline our commitment to sustainable economic growth and private-sector development.”

“This thing, ladies and gentlemen, which I have already pronounced, allies are producing with our government’s strategic policies,” said Dr. Igga.

In her part, the National Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Josephine Lagu Yanga said agriculture remains the backbone of the country’s economy, the lifeline of the people, the foundation upon which people can and must build a united, peaceful, prosperous, inclusive and stable South Sudan.

Ms. Lagu said several reports show that food imported by the African countries is worth 100 billion USD.

“We have limited farming technologies. We have inadequate infrastructure. We have inadequate financing for our farmers and in South Sudan in particular,” Lagu said, adding:

“We still have the lingering effects of this so many years of struggle essentially resulted in the independence of this country but these challenges are not insurmountable with the right policies, right investments, right partnership including the use of cooperatives for transforming agriculture.”

“We can transform our agriculture sector into a thriving commercial industry that will drive our economic growth that will create jobs for our people, especially the young people and stop them from loitering and engaging in anti-social activities.”

The minister noted that the country has thirty-three million hectares of prime arable land, yet the country’s agriculture sector still remains underdeveloped because farmers are only focusing on subsistence farming.

“It is about shifting from subsistence to surplus, from poverty to prosperity. Agriculture has the potential to employ millions of South Sudanese by investing in commercial farming, agro-processing and agribusinesses. As already mentioned, we can create jobs and reduce unemployment and above all diversify our economy, drive manufacturing and industrialization because that’s what happens in the rest of the advanced countries, economically advanced countries,” she added.

Ms. Lagu said there won’t be a shortcut, people have to start doing things step by step like other developed countries that started from zero.

“Europe’s agriculture sector will ensure that South Sudan can feed itself by increasing production, improving post-harvest handling, we can reduce food imports, lowering food prices and improving nutrition for all,” she said.