Juba, November 20, : , The United Nations World Food Programme launched the world’s first ever innovative program to support locally driven solutions for South Sudan’s food system challenges.Matthew Hollingworth (WFP Country Representative) said Friday that they target South Sudanese entrepreneurs for innovative ideas, with the support of WFP IGNITE Innovation Hub Eastern Africa, which aims to provide solutions to improving food security.
According to Xinhua, floods have affected 760,000 South Sudanese and caused chaos in the country.
According to a recent report by both the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and WFP, South Sudan’s deficit in cereal production has reached an all-time high at 465 600 tons.
The IGNITE Food Systems Challenge is inviting applications beginning on November 19, with the support of United Nations Development Programme.Submissions are accepted until December 15th on the vc4a.com website.
The programme is open to start-ups that have innovative ideas for addressing hunger and improving food security.WFP released a statement stating that selected enterprises would receive mentoring, technical assistance, training and grant funding up to $100,000 U.S.Dollars.
The contribution was made at a time when Eastern Africa is experiencing worsening food security due to rising conflicts, climate change and natural disasters such as droughts and floods, locusts and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meshack Malo is the FAO Country Representative.
He said that South Sudan’s innovative local ideas can help reduce dependence on humanitarian agencies.
South Sudan could only use 4 percent of its arable land last year.The challenge starts there.Marketing, insurance and plant protection are just a few of the other important areas.
Malo stated that we want innovations to use various technology aspects to better understand the food security system.
WFP IGNITE Innovation Hub Eastern Africa was established in December 2020.
It leverages WFP’s brand and public and private partners as well as deep field access and expertise.The hub will help to create, foster, scale and sustain sustainable innovation to increase food security.
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