 Luzino Ezekiah, a 56-year-old mechanic from a rural village in South Sudan, found a way to escape poverty. Thanks to Solidarity’s Sustainable Agriculture Project in Riimenze (SAP-R), he went from poor harvests to abundant production, improving the lives of his family and inspiring his community. Here is his testimony:
“My name is Luzino Ezekiah. I am 56 years old and live in the village of Riimenze, Western Equatoria State, South Sudan. I have a large family of 27 members who all live under my responsibility. I was trained as a mechanic. Life has been very difficult at times, being a mechanic in a rural area where there are no cars and motorbikes to work on, so I have resorted to cultivating the land to put food on the table for my large family. Having no knowledge of good agricultural practices, I just cultivated a lot, using rudimentary methods characterised by burning bushes, spreading seeds without selection and sowing many seeds per hole. But after cultivating a large portion of land, I was able to get a very poor harvest, not enough to feed my family. I continued to get poor harvests until one day I was identified and selected by the Extension Worker of the Sustainable Agriculture Project of Solidarity (SAP-R) to benefit from training in good agricultural practices. I was so excited to become one of the beneficiaries of the project because it would be a turning point in my life. As a result, I attended training courses on various topics of sustainable agriculture, including online sowing, crop rotation, timely sowing, seed selection, recommended plant spacing and integrated pest management (IPM). After benefiting from the training on good agricultural practices, I transferred the knowledge I learnt to my own farm and started cultivating a farmland by sowing 3 feddans with rice and 4 feddans with groundnuts and maize, and achieving a high yield. I sold the produce at the end of the season and managed to buy iron sheets for my house. Thanks to continuous farming I was also able to buy a motorbike and a radio for my family and I was able to send my children to good schools. This time I was satisfied with what I bought with the money from the farm, so I decided to increase the size of the farmland, since farming allows you to earn more money. I currently sleep in a nice house thanks to farming. I would like to thank Solidarity and SAP-R for opening our eyes with the training courses. I will continue to share the same knowledge I received with members of my community so that they too can move away from poverty by coming to learn at my farm. I appeal to Solidarity with South Sudan to continue supporting other parts of the state as well, so that the lives of those living there can also change.” Thank you for continuing to support our projects |
Date Published:23 October 2024 Author:Alice, Officer
Article Tags: Latest news, South Sudan, Solidarity, Riimenze, Sustainable agriculture, Life stories, Community development |
