Ceasefire is a must for a successful farming season

Photo credit: The Niles

As rainfall approaches, concern is mounting that proper preparations for the next agricultural season have been neglected under the present political, security and economic conditions.

The government is no doubt banking on a good farming season to partially extricate it from the crises besieging it from all sides.

Alarm has recently been raised by both international organizations and government officials in Darfur and South Kordofan over the onset of food insecurity.

 It is common knowledge that the government makes a pattern of dismissing similar warnings, which it views as an attempt to justify the presence of international organizations it had earlier expelled from conflict zones in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.

Besides disrupting stability in conflict areas, the war has resulted in shrinking of cultivated land during the past season, not to mention others woes in terms of marketing, finance and occasional scarcity of rainfall.

The government should seek to resolve these problems by intensifying preparation for the current season for the purpose of stepping up production of grains, in particular, to realize self-sufficiency in these crops and override the looming problem of food deficiency whose early symptoms can already be seen in the rise in prices of durra and bread.

There is need for arriving at an urgent ceasefire in the Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan states to enable citizens to return to their villages to join the agricultural season, taking into account that the country is currently facing an economic crisis that is gathering momentum on a daily basis.

There seems to be no hope for the country to pull itself out of this crisis, other than reliance on its own capacities and resources that are based on investment in its plant and animal flora. However, heading in that direction first requires stability and peace.

Therefore, progress in dialogue between the government and the various rebel movements is expected to constitute an important factor for motivating and mobilizing forces of production to deal with the economic crisis.