Governor Lobong tell citizens to take up agriculture, stop over dependence on relief food

Eastern Equatoria Governor, Louis Lobong Lojore has told people to stop relying on humanitarian aid.

At the same time, the governor said that people should take up agriculture and cultivate their own food.

“There are only a few people who work, but the majority want to eat for free. We must change from that,” Governor Lobong stated.

“This question of why the dollar is going up, even if you talk the whole day and you are not doing anything, it will never come down,” he added.

Lobong challenged the communities to start farming and produce their own food instead of depending on humanitarian aid.

Since the outbreak of the conflict in the country, the government of Eastern Equatoria State has always discouraged the idea of allowing local people to live in the internally displaced camp.

Lobong said the majority of the citizens in the state have abandoned agriculture because they know there is relief food.

“Many questions are always asked on the rise of the dollar rate in the country. This is resulting from the idleness of the local population,” he said.

“The dollar will only decrease when people are committed to the agricultural sector in order to boost food productivity.”

He was addressing the congregation in the church during Palm Sunday at Our Lady of Holy Rosary Parish in Torit.

Governor Lobong told the congregation to work hard to create change in the mindset of the local population, to improve the livelihood.

“I know we have challenges in terms of the economy, and this is telling us to change our mindset, to change our attitude, our behavior, and to direct us on how we handle our resources.”

“We need to work very hard to improve our livelihood because God has given us all the talent to do so. God has given us the energy, God has given us the knowledge; and God has given us a very fertile land and a lot of water,” Lobong added.

He said whenever he moves around the town, he can find people in the shops sitting and playing dominoes and cards instead of farming.

“Even during this time for cultivation, it’s raining your dominoes.”

He called on the citizens of the state to cease the culture of dependence on free things.

He challenged the citizens to work hard and produce their own food if they were to survive the skyrocketing market price.