Project update
May 2008
Management and Planning:
George Odhiambo, our Regional Programme Manager and Hugh Gibbon our Programme Development Manager, visited the Sudan project in early 2008 to support the team to develop the next 12 month workplan as our activities will expand to Aweil South. The government departments of relevant ministries based in Wau participated in the development of our workplan, reflecting their support for our activities. The workplan builds on our previous experience and schedules work according to the challenges of accessing parts of Warrap and Northern Bahr el Ghazal states during the rainy season. The team also prepared for a baseline assessment of Aweil South to determine the most vulnerable families, existing agricultural activities, and accessibility to the project sites throughout the year.
Water Development:
Ten shallow wells were dug during early 2008 by community volunteers who attended FARM-Africa training in 2007. Six of these wells were dug in Kuac South, one in Gogrial, one in Alek South, and two in Akon South, with depths ranging from three to ten metres. One of the shallow well diggers John Garang said the following:
"This well has changed my life, my family are not thirsty again, my cows and goats are watered daily from this well. There are so many people from our village and outside our village that fetch water from this well, therefore, I opened a small market table and my wife prepares tea and food for sale. The business is very good and sometimes we earn 40 - 60 Sudanese pounds (around £10 - £15) per day. I like to thank FARM-Africa because they gave us water, new friends and business. Our Chief is a very proud man because so many people come to our village to fetch water".
Re-stocking of small stock for returnees/most vulnerable households:
No restocking took place during the first quarter of 2008 however the project did regularly follow up on the 27 female-headed households who received 5 pregnant goats in the last quarter of 2007. The monitoring results of the goat restocking are overwhelmingly good and the women testified to regaining their status in the community as a result of their new livestock. They are now called to attend important village meetings and have access to milk and manure for vegetable cultivation.
30% of the goats have already given birth to their kids, with most having one male. The goats were distributed on a loan basis and therefore the large number of male kids will slow down the process of restocking the next family through the goat loan system. There were some cases of goat miscarriage, and the colour of the goats was raised as an issue by some women. Many women think that black goats are a bad omen therefore one of the recipients asked FARM-Africa to replace her black goat with one of a different colour. FARM-Africa will learn from this complaint and take the issue into consideration in our 2008 restocking activity. The project will restock 40 female headed households in Gogrial and Aweil South Counties. It takes time to identify which female headed household are most in need of the goats. The project team has to work closely with village leaders as the poorest members of the community do not have time to attend village meetings.
Farmer Research Extension Groups (FREGs) identified and trained in Farmer Participatory Research:
The project provided on-the-spot training for the five existing FREGs in Gogrial West County, particularly in Kuajok and Akon. The FREGs were busy harvesting and selling their garden products including okra, tomatoes, cowpea leaves and other local vegetables during this quarter. The individual FREG members were satisfied with their earnings from the farm with most earning between £100 and £250 from their sales. Most of their customers are restaurant owners and individuals.
The FREGs have one demonstration field but each individual owns and manages their own plots. The FREGs in Akon were experiencing water shortage therefore two shallow wells were dug in the garden, and they use treadle pumps and watering cans to irrigate the whole plot. One of the FREGs has started making a nursery for sorghum so that it can be transplanted to farmers during the second quarter. This is a new technology for the area.
Community Animal Health Workers identified, trained and equipped:
Six-day refresher training was conducted for Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) and jointly facilitated by FARM-Africa's Animal Health Trainer and the County Vet Co-ordinator. The refresher training was officially opened by the Director of Animal Resources Mr. Andrea Adup Akoch from the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resource in Kuajok. 51 CAHWs from the nine payams in the county attended the training, which was held in Gogrial Town. The project conducts refresher training every 6 months for CAHWs with the training focused on skills that need to be improved or how to respond to challenges faced. The CAHWs discussed practical issues during the refresher course such as getting air bubbles out of syringes properly, filling in monitoring forms, the refusal of some livestock owners to vaccinate their animals, new diseases encountered in the field, and new veterinary drugs. Over 80% of the CAHWs did not complete primary education and therefore, the training is very practical and hands-on and enables the animal health workers, government staff and FARM-Africa to share experiences and ideas.
The Animal Health Trainer also delivered three day training for meat inspectors in Gogrial West County in March. This focused on meat inspection, hygiene and zoonotic diseases like rabies, anthrax, brucellosis, TB and other diseases shared by both livestock and humans. 18 meat inspectors attended the training.
Drug availability & disease surveillance networks strengthened:
The private vet store in Kaujok was requested to relocate to the new market ground and building work at the new location is nearly completed. Disease outbreaks reported in the first quarter were anthrax, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP), peste de petits ruminants (PPR), and sheep and goat poxviruses. 2,331 animals were vaccinated in the last quarter. The team had hoped to vaccinate more but were constrained by the seasonal movement of animals in seek of pasture.
January 2008: During the last few months of 2007 the team have successfully:
- trained 18 water pump mechanics and supplied them with tool kits and bicycles.
- with the assistance of Supraid, drilled 4 new boreholes, bringing much needed clean water to these areas.
- distributed a further 181 tree seedlings, in addition to the 800 already provided
- provided 30 Community Animal Health Workers with refresher training, with a focus on vaccinations.
The borehole in Nyokthiang has also had a significant impact on the community with women no longer having to spend hours walking to find water, leaving young children to look after their younger siblings. As Mr Ring Deng Ring says:
"Some of our neighbours and family members who migrated from this village and other satellite villages due to the lack of water are now returning due to the presence of the borehole. We are now drinking clear water, the young children have more attention from their mothers, and we are also embarking on the construction of a primary school due to the availability of water. The borehole has united us".
The team now have five Farmer Research & Environmental Groups (FREG) groups fully established, trained and active with demonstration plots.
The project team have also been reviewing their work over the past year and been busy planning and fundraising for the short and the long term.
August 2007: Community mobilisation is an on going activity for this project and the main activity for this quarter was on seeds and tools distribution. The involvement of the local government and community leaders are crucial to the success of the programme. The targeting of the right beneficiaries requires the full cooperation from the local leaders and the programme appreciated the level of interaction and support. The programme conducted mobilisation activities on the construction of slaughter slabs, training of farmers on the use of draft animal technology, training of local leaders on how to better plan and become better managers and meetings with the programme advisory committee (‘PAC') members and on restocking of goats to female headed household.
About 1500 animals were vaccinated during the past quarter by the Community Animal Health Workers. A major vaccination campaign for cattle and small ruminants is planned for a period of one month. The campaign will start from 22nd of August and end on the 22nd of September 2007. The campaign is led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal resource and the County Veterinary Director. FARM-Africa will provide the needed logistics and get the vaccines in the county in a timely manner. The campaign plans to cover about 70,000 heads of cattle and small ruminants.
The training of trainers on ox ploughs was carried out and 33 people were trained as master trainers by Mr. Joseph Mbindyo and Mr. Justin Bazia from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The trainees were gathered from the nine payams to a central location (Gogrial town) in the county. The master trainers returned to their districts, villages and trained a total of 128 teams with oxen. So far, 59 ox ploughs have been distributed by FARM-Africa. The community have been responsive and accepted this technology very quickly and there has been an increase in the acreage of land under cultivation by those who used the plough.
A total of 1,434 households received seeds and tools from FARM-Africa in the past quarter. The farmers selected the type of seeds they would like to plant after some discussions. The programme introduced three types of fruit tree cultivars in the County and these include mango (kent, tommy, zilate, keit and bolibo), oranges (Valencia and Washington navel), and guava (red and white flesh). A total of 800 trees were distributed in the community and the results are excellent. The trees are doing very well and a majority of the individuals who benefited protected their crops. The tools are sources locally where possible.
May 2007: The FAO approve of our meat hygiene promotion project. FARM-Africa under this agreement will construct 4 slaughter houses in Gogrial West County while FAO will provide the technical training to the meat inspectors. FARM-Africa also completed an assessment on meat hygiene and trade. The report is currently in circulation. FAO expressed their satisfaction over the quality of the report.
FARM-Africa is developing the distribution chain list for the restocking of the goats to female headed households. Restocking of these families began in May 2007.
The contractual agreement with a Shallow Well International consultant comes to an end this month. He was contracted for 40 days to train the local people on how to identify water beneath the earth and on digging techniques. He trained 3 teams who are currently digging at three separate sites. One of the three teams has already reached water and this has generated a lot of demand from other communities. Some have begun to negotiate directly with the digging teams to dig a well in their location. One digging team has dug 70 feet down. The teams are in high spirit and truly motivated. The communities welcomed the approach and see it as another way to easing the water shortage in their areas.
The programme conducted assessment on broken boreholes and the report is now in its draft form. FARM-Africa purchased pump repair kits and other spare parts to rehabilitate over 10 broken boreholes. The programme also purchased pump-mechanic tools for each payam and in May, the programme will train 18 pump mechanics (2 per district).
Dec 2006: FARM-Africa are supplying over 1,500 vulnerable households with seeds and tools, giving them the means to rebuild their own livelihoods. Blacksmith equipment is also be provided to make tools. We have recently established goat groups and the poorest families in the group are being provided with a loan of goats which are then repaid by passing a goat kid onto another family in the group. This gives them access to animal products such as milk.
Previous updates: There is very little empirical data on crops and livestock in this part of Sudan. In response FARM-Africa is preparing to collect field data and examine livelihoods to inform future activities such as the establishment of goat groups and the distribution of seeds and tools.
The project activities are accelerating since reaching the end of the wet season. The animal health component is taking a key role in the community. More than 25,000 animals were vaccinated and 80 CAHWs refreshed and trained by SCFUK (Save the Children Fund) and other agencies in Gogrial, west county alone. The seeds that were distributed have grown well and the farmers were happy with the result. Many of the farmers visited were proud to show their farms off. A majority said they were going to keep over 50% of their harvest from next year's cultivation particularly those who cultivated groundnuts.
One of the beneficiaries (a returnee) said that he was very happy that the Chief had recommended him to receive seeds if he had not, he would have return to the north. SUPRAID, FARM-Africa's partner, is currently drilling the third borehole. They will meet their target before the end of 2006.
Contact the project
Southern Sudan Project Coordinator
c/o FARM-Africa Kenya Office
PO Box 49502
00100 Nairobi
Kenya
T +254 20 273 1664
F +254 20 273 2086
E http://www.farmafrica.org.uk/