By Lodu William Odiya
The South Sudan National Bureau of Standard has vowed to standardize South Sudan’s local products to ensure it reaches the regional and global market level.
Speaking during WFP IGNITE Food Systems Innovation Challenge award on Tuesday, the Executive Director of the South Sudan National Bureau of Standards (SSNBS), Gloria Nyoka Joseph said the Bureau of Standards is grateful to be part of nurturing the inter-pioneers in South Sudan.
“We are looking forward to work with you together, hands in hands, to make sure that products from South Sudan is not only for the local market in South Sudan, but it is crossing the borders to the region and globally” she said.
Nyoka said it was a good program that is bringing all our inter-pioneers to recognize this change on how to strengthen economy in this country.
“Our support come in terms of making sure quality and safety is achieved through all the process of production and processing”.
Nyoka emphasized that the Bureau of Standards provides the standards that makes the quality and food safety achievable.
“It has been not an easy road for you to reach here, but I’m sure you have learned from others like Hagana when they are talking about the winning is not the end of the thing, but it is the beginning of the biggest milestone” she said.
She underlined the Bureau of Standards comes in for the provision of the standard to make sure that the standardization and certification is taking place.
Nyoka further highlighted that all the products that are processed or produced has to be certified and to have quality marks.
She emphasized the important for SSBS to making sure they were doing certification to South Sudan products adding that having a quality mark for our products is like having a passport to cross to another country.
Nyoka also stated that quality mark means the passport for South Sudan products to cross the border from South Sudan to the other countries.
“We appreciate all our development partners for your efforts, that you are really working hard with the government of South Sudan to make sure that we are achieving our different goals in making sustainable development in this country” she explained.
She reaffirmed the Bureau of Standard’s commitment to provide the standards and to provide also conformity assessment, which includes testing and confirming that local products have the quality and the safety of itself.
“This is one of the mandates of the Bureau because our role is to make sure that we are also enhancing the economy of South Sudan” she stated.
In June this year, the South Sudan National Bureau of Standards (SSNBS) earned public praise for it’s decisive actions in rejecting substandard food products from entering the country.