Office of International Research, Education, and Development, Virginia Tech

1. Southern Sudan Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Higher Education Needs Assessment Project Summary of Survey ReportbyFrancis Lokong Juba, Southern Sudan, Mar 11, 2009 Catholic University of Sudan Office of International Research, Education, and Development, Virginia Tech

2. Overall Aim of the Needs Assessment Survey Provide a basis for developing curricula for training skilled and motivated personnel who will promote the agricultural sector in Southern Sudan.

3. Methodology • Because resources and time were limited, data were collected in three states: • Central Equitoria • Upper Nile • Western Bhar el Ghazal • Data were collected from key informants: Director Generals and Directors in the Ministries • Key informants in among NGOs and the private sector are also mentioned, but quantitative data are not reported separately. • Results are provided here as answers to a series of four questions.

4. 1. What are the characteristics and training of current Ministry staff at the state level? Distribution of respondents by gender. Only 15% of respondents are female.

5. Distribution of respondents by age 47% of respondents are over 40, and the following age cohort is small.

6. Distribution of respondents by highest academic qualification There are fewer Certificate and Diploma holders (combined) than there are graduates with degrees.

7. Current numbers of qualified personnel by department The distribution of qualifications is the traditional pyramid, with largest numbers among the lowest qualified, but the base of the pyramid is not broad.

8. Distribution of human resources projection by department In 10 years well over 3,000 more personnel are needed in these three states alone. 50% or more of total needs are in Forestry.

9. Remarks by private sector informants A Director of the Kenya Commercial Bank • …we are expanding our braches to most parts of Southern Sudan and in the near future we shall start providing soft loans to farmers…this will be preceded training of farmers …this I believe could be done best if we have staff with agro-background… A Hotel manager • Right now we depend on staff from outside the country for catering, cooking and general hotel management. We believe this work could be provided locally if there were people with skills in basic hotel management.

10. Remarks by NGO informants A food security and livelihood officer: • …sometimes we had no option but to bring trainers all the way from East Africa…we advertise and re-advertise for a post but most often none of the Sudanese had the qualifications or skill in training of farmers…. A second food security officer: • It difficult to get people with the skills to train at lower level….the farmers need people who can train in the local language but the people whom we bring from East Africa do not know local languages hence making the training not really meaningful…[with] people who had skills and can communicate the local languages training would be easier and beneficial to the farmers.

11. 2. What are perceptions of staff concerning their training needs? There is a very high demand for training even among the staff already in employment.

12. 3. What are the priority subject areas where training is needed? Crop production • General aim: Produce agricultural extension officers capable of training farmers in cereals, tubers, vegetables and fruits. • Specific skills • Timing production seasons. • Land selection and preparation. • Seed selection, preparation and planting. • Weeding - timing and frequency. • Crop protection: identify diseases and pests and control them. • Crop harvesting and storage. • Product processing including juice and jam from fruits, and paste from groundnuts, simsim and sun flower seeds. • Oil extraction from sun flower, ground nuts and simsim. • Baking bread and other items

13. Priority training areas (continued) Crop production (continued) • Skills required to help reduce wastage • Manage use of by-products, e.g. husks for green manure, sun flower cake for animal feed. • Better transport and storage to reduce losses. • Food preservation skills, e.g. sun drying, salting, heating or smoking.

14. Priority training areas (continued) Forest production • Train adequate forest rangers to protect and use the forest profitably and to educate the people in: • Forest conservation and the causes and consequences of forest depletion. • Tree planting around homes and gardens. • Managing seedlings, transplanting seedlings and caring for trees. • Harvesting trees and producing timber. • Carpentry skills for, e.g. chairs, stools, tables, beds, doors and door frames, windows and window frames.

15. Priority training areas (continued) Animal resources and fisheries development • Train community based animal health specialists capable of educating the local people in: • Vaccinating or dipping the animals when need arises. • Managing animal diseases • Hygienic household milk production and processing, as well as butter and cheese-making. • Pasture management and improved grazing systems • Raising small animals like goats, sheep and domestic birds for consumption and profit.   • Making various types of boats, fish nets and hooks • Fish protection to avoid over fishing • Preserving fish through smoking, sun drying and salting

16. Priority training areas (continued) Other skills that are required to promote agricultural sector in the Sudan • Bee keeping and honey production • Office management • Plant crafting • Ox-plough skills • Fish gear and boat building • Animal diseases surveillance • Artificial insemination • Irrigation • Tourism and Hotel Management • Record keeping • Basic computer skills • Marketing skills • Basic computer skills (Word, Excel, Power Point and Access) • Skills in micro-finance management for rural agriculture • Entrepreneurial skills for home based food processing • Saving skills to motivate and promote savings at village levels

17. 4a. What factors in the country or the region may promote the development of agricultural institutions of higher learning in Southern Sudan? • Availability of land. It is estimated that less that 1/3 of the land is so far inhabited and vast lands lie fallow. • A variety of agro-economical zones, favoring crops, animals and fish production. • High demand for personnel - in the public sector now and later in the private sector as the Country favors private investment, especially in agriculture, • The land in Southern Sudan is fertile. • More than 90 percent of Sudanese are basically dependent on agro resources. • Good will

18. 4b. What factors in the country or the region may hinder the development of agricultural institutions of higher learning in Southern Sudan? • Low standard of Education • Insecurity in some parts of the country • Lack of proper land policies • Poor road network • Lack of training facilities • Inadequate manpower • Inadequate budget • Over reliance on traditional agriculture • Lack of agricultural inputs • Competition from neighboring countries • Insufficient research activities • Ad hoc planning by the government • Inadequate extension service providers • Inability of the farmers to keep records

19. CONCLUSIONS • There is a serious shortage of skilled human resources in agriculture especially in the public services (a 72% shortfall). • Many staff in the Ministry of Agriculture are near retirement, so the shortage will worsen. • 10 year projection in the three States: 3,000 more staff. Demand 50% higher if GOSS fulfills a promise of more financial and human resources for the “Payam and Boma” levels. • Women form only 2% of total classified staff in the three states. Overall in GOSS, educated women are only10% of employees. • There is very high desire for further training among the classified staff of State Ministries of Agriculture. • Short term, there is need to diversify agricultural skills by agro-ecological zones at certificate and diploma levels. Longer term people with B.Scs will also be required.

20. RECOMMENDATIONS There is an urgent need for: • Training skilled personnel in agriculture, especially at certificate and diploma levels, who can train farmers directly. • Gender friendly programs to encourage women trainers. • Program flexibility to accommodate those already in the job market, including those whom NGOs and the private sector can employ as resource persons at the village level. • To include as many practical subjects as possible in agricultural courses since the farmers may not adequate education level or time to absorb theories.  • Promoting skills among rural people so they can improve food security, diversify family diets, and produce surpluses for sale.