FAO AFIS 6th QRM PPT - Crop Assessment SORUDEV

Crop Assessment Approaches by FAO-AFIS for 2016.

Wondimagegne Shiferaw. 6th QRM. FAO, 2016

Crop assessment is not a once only operation; it is rather a continuous activity that should be accomplished throughout the year.  Annual missions should be fielded to verify what has been collected locally and should not be considered as a replacement to or do the work of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Challenges faced in South Sudan include: Delays in assessments, data accuracy, shortage of manpower; Absence of Annual Agric. Sample Survey (statistical); Lack  of institutional arrangements to collect and transfer seasonal crop/ agricultural information; Presence of complex cropping patterns in South Sudan that need careful elaboration (double cropping, relay cropping, mixed cropping, ratooning); Overlapping of planting and harvesting seasons in various parts of the country; Difficulty of covering all states because of insecurity, bad roads, and limited number of taskforce members.

Aim is to engage agricultural extension workers and NGO partners at county and payam levels to support crop assessment taskforces in crop monitoring and yield assessment activities – in collection, processing and reporting of crop performances, yield estimations and weather monitoring and thereby improve the quality of crop assessment information at country level. Involvement of extension workers, and NGO partners at County, Payam and Boma levels is necessary. NGOs especially consortium members (BRACED and SORUDEV) and others will be required to directly participate in the crop monitoring exercise in their operational areas, together with:  A/Commissioners, Inspectors and the County and Payam Extension Workers - all coordinated as one team.