[Photo: UN FAO]
Cereal production in South Sudan in 2020 rose by seven percent over 2019 levels because of favorable rains, but cereals remained far below average production levels reached before the conflict erupted in South Sudan in 2013, a new UN report on food security established.
A high cereal deficit expected for 2021 due to the impact of prolonged conflict and floods is leaving millions of South Sudanese extremely food insecure, according to the Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP).
According to the joint report, “Cereal production in 2020 is estimated at 874,400 metric tons, seven percent higher than 818,500 metric tons in 2019. The marginal growth will cover the needs of only a third of the population, leaving most people reliant on humanitarian food assistance and imports of essential grains, at prices beyond the reach of ordinary South Sudanes
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Special report: 2020 FAO/WFP Crop and food security assessment mission (CFSAM) to the Republic of South Sudan, 13 May 2021
Format
An FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) conducted an analysis from 7 to 16 December 2020 to estimate the cereal production in South Sudan during 2020, based on a review of data and information collected by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS). The Mission also reviewed secondary data from a variety of sources in order to produce an overview of the overall food security situation in the country. Due to COVID-19‑related travel restrictions, the analysis was performed remotely through several video‑conferences with relevant staff of the FAO Office in South Sudan. The CFSAM reviewed the findings of several Crop Assessment Missions conducted at harvest time from August, following the removal of COVID‑19‑related travel restrictions, to December 2020, in different agro‑ecological zones of the country.
Introduction
The Syrian conflict has entered its tenth year, with a devastating humanitarian and economic toll: the death of 384,000-593,000 people as of December 2020; the forced displacement of an estimated 13.5 million people, almost half of whom are displaced internally, struggling to survive; economic loss of $428 billion from 2011 to 2018 (six times the GDP in 2010); depreciation of the Syrian lira (now 13 times less valuable than before the conflict); high unemployment; the destruction of physical property, including homes, infrastructure, hospitals, schools; and the reality of 90% of the population living below the poverty line. Yet the war has also resulted in significant environmental destruction â a form of damage that receives less attention but represents major potential harm with long-term negative consequences on public health, the economy, and peace itself, and which must be central to any post-conflict relief or reconstruction effort.