'South Sudan faces 50% harvest fall, tough times ahead'

ANKARA

Warning of challenging months ahead, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Thursday said nine out of South Sudan’s ten states have harvested, on average, 50% “less cereal and vegetables in 2020 than they did in 2019”.

“People are tired of depending on aid. They want to live in dignity and provide for themselves and their families,” Robert Mardini, Director General of the ICRC, was quoted in a report as saying during his visit to the oil-rich war-weary country.

“Our assessment shows that climate shocks, combined with continuing conflict and armed violence, make the transition for communities from receiving food assistance to independent food production extremely difficult,” he added.

According to the report, the COVID-19 pandemic also added to their hardships.

“While we have adapted our humanitarian action to include COVID-19 preventive measures, the pandemic has deepened existing vulnerabilities, especially in the healthcare system, which has been weakened or destroyed by decades of conflict and armed violence,” Mardini said.

On the other hand, a renewed outbreak of armed violence would also cause food shortages for hundreds of thousands of people in South Sudan, the international organization warned.

The impact of both COVID-19 and climatic shocks would lead many people in the country, particularly in vulnerable communities, to experience challenging months ahead in 2021, the report added.