By Arkangelo Adup<\/p>\n
In a bid to enhance food security and improve nutrition, AMREF Health Africa is empowering communities in Tonj through kitchen gardens,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n This enables families to grow essential vegetables for better health and self-sufficiency.<\/p>\n Despite the success of the initiative, local farmers continue to grapple with key challenges, including seed scarcity, lack of manure, and water shortages for irrigation.<\/p>\n Deborah Nyibol Mangong, one of the beneficiaries, expressed gratitude for AMREF\u2019s intervention. However, she highlighted critical challenges, particularly the scarcity of seeds and manure, which hinder the expansion of their gardens.<\/p>\n Achol Atek, a group leader, echoed these concerns while acknowledging AMREF\u2019s assistance. She urged for additional support, requesting ploughing tools to expand their gardens into a larger demonstration farm that could benefit more people.<\/p>\n One of the biggest challenges affecting kitchen gardens in Tonj is access to water for irrigation. The community primarily depends on shallow hand-dug wells, which dry up during the dry season, making vegetable farming difficult to sustain.<\/p>\n To address this, AMREF has been digging open wells to provide a more reliable water source. However, a more sustainable long-term solution is needed to support continuous agricultural efforts.<\/p>\n Deng Simon, AMREF\u2019s Project Coordinator, reaffirmed the organization\u2019s dedication to supporting local farmers despite ongoing challenges.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do this to support the health of our community. The lack of seeds is a challenge, but we are working hard to supply them from Wau while also encouraging farmers to preserve their seeds to avoid scarcity in the future,\u201d Deng explained.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Dr. Madhel Akook, the state minister, visited the project to assess its impact. He commended AMREF\u2019s work in Tonj and urged women to expand their efforts.<\/p>\n \u201cVegetables are essential for a balanced diet. I encourage women to embrace this work and expand it further to help fight food insecurity in our state,\u201d the minister stressed.<\/p>\n He also emphasized the importance of continued support from organizations like AMREF and called for more initiatives to improve access to irrigation water.<\/p>\n As the kitchen garden initiative continues to grow, addressing key challenges such as water scarcity, seed shortages, and access to farming tools will be crucial for its long-term success. With AMREF\u2019s ongoing support and the resilience of local farmers, the vision of a well-nourished and self-sufficient community in Tonj is gradually becoming a reality.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Arkangelo Adup In a bid to enhance food security and improve nutrition, AMREF Health Africa is empowering communities in Tonj through kitchen gardens, This enables families to grow essential vegetables for better health and self-sufficiency. Despite the success of the initiative, local farmers continue to grapple with key challenges,[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34289"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34290,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34289\/revisions\/34290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u201cI thank God for AMREF for teaching us how to work and always supporting us,\u201d Nyibol said.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAMREF has helped us establish kitchen gardens and provided food and essential household items. This support allows us to focus on gardening,\u201d Atek praises AMREF.<\/p>\n