South Sudan has an immense potential for sustainable agricultural development with abundant land and favourable agro-ecology conditions. More than half of the total land area is prime agricultural land, while the remaining 50 per cent is composed of marginal arable land, forests, mountains, rivers and wetlands. The total land area of South Sudan is about 658,842 sq km while cultivated area is 27,712 sq km. Much of the country receives adequate annual rainfall, favourable to grow a range of crops. The amount and distribution of rainfall varies by region ranging from 500 mm per year in the north, providing a growing season of 100-150 days, to about 2000 mm in the Southwest where the growing season is 150-250 days. The potential for irrigated agriculture is huge thanks to many permanent large and small rivers, seasonal rivers, as well as underground water reservoirs. There are also extensive swamplands that could be developed for large scale rice and sugarcane production schemes.

In response to the recurrent crises triggered by drought in the Horn of Africa region, and especially the effects of the 2011 drought that affected over 13 million people, Member States of IGAD agreed to develop a program to end drought emergencies. The IGAD Drought Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Initiative was launched and South Sudan, like all other IGAD countries, developed this Country Programming Paper (CPP). This CPP, which was developed through a consultative process, articulates South Sudan’s 15-year strategy for ending drought emergencies and building resilient communities, outlining priorities, and a path for coordinated action and resource mobilization.

This document is intended as a guidance resource to support the implementation of the Nationa lAgriculture and Livestock Extension Policy (NALEP) in South Sudan for the next five years.  Although each step in this Implementation Framework should be completed, the level of details depends on the circumstances of individual initiatives, projects and programmes.  It is worth to note that it should include, at all levels, the involvement of all stakeholders in extension service provision, and be attractive for the private and non-state actors (NSA) to participate in the delivery of extension services and the commercialization of agriculture.

South Sudan is a least-developed country located in east-central Africa. It is the world’s newest country, having gained independence from Sudan in July 2011 after a prolonged period of civil war. In addition to the negative impacts of long-term conflict, communities in South Sudan are also experiencing the negative effects of a changing climate. In general, the country is experiencing substantially warmer and drier weather, and the combination of these effects leads to more droughts. In addition, rainfall is becoming more erratic, which is increasing the frequency and severity of floods. These climate change effects in turn decrease agricultural productivity, upon which the majority of the population depend for their livelihoods. Unless communities adapt to these climatic changes, climate change will hinder socio-economic development and contribute to existing tensions and conflict in South Sudan.

The South Sudan Development Plan (SSDP) 2011-13 is the nation’s response to core development and state- building challenges during the first three years of independence. It is based upon the theme of ‘Realising freedom, equality, justice, peace and prosperity for all’. The plan identifies key development objectives for the new Republic of South Sudan and outlines priority programmes for achieving these objectives. It builds on the country’s strengths and opportunities, including abundant natural resources and an energetic and hard-working people, to address the challenges of establishing the new state, tackling poverty, low social indicators and the need to build sustainable peace and security for all citizens. It is rooted in a careful analysis of three key aspects of the South Sudan context – conflict, poverty and the macroeconomy.