“We returned voluntarily to settle down and develop…” and that is exactly what Anyasi Kiko is doing. She is now the Chairman of one of the 40 Farmer Field Schools in South Sudan set up by the Danish Refugee Council. The schools are built around demonstration farms where vulnerable community members learn about better methods of farming for higher production where access to land is limited.

46-year old Anyasi is married with five children. Anyasi is originally from Lainya in Yei County, where she and her family used to live. When the war broke in 1993 there was a lot of bombing in Lainya by SPLA soldiers. When trying to escape people were beaten and looted of their possessions.  Most of their clothing was taken.

The family decided, like many others, to find their way out and cross the border into Uganda. It took them one week on foot with their four children at the time. They had no water or food except what they could manage to grab on the way, and had to ask for refugee camps when arriving in Uganda. They ended up in Magburu camp in Uganda, where they stayed for 12 years.

With the improving situation in South Sudan following the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), Anyasi and her decided to move back to South Sudan in 2005.  They are now settled in Kajo Keji where her husband originated.  “It is now peaceful here and we returned voluntarily to settle down and develop”, she says with optimism.

Anyasi and her husband managed to buy a small plot of land from neighbours in their new village. Here, they have built their home and have some land for cultivation. However, there is little room for expansion as access to land is limited.  Anyasi hopes that, with the help of the Farmer Field School, they will be able to produce enough to be able to both make a living and sell some surplus.

Anyasi is happy with the activities at the Farmer Field School.  She was elected as chairman after attending some training workshops with DRC.  “Being a chairman does not take too much time from my daily activities, so it is alright”, she says, and adds that the training helps because members are transferring this knowledge to their own plots in order to increase yields.

The Farmer Fields School in Anyasi’s village has motivated new members to join in: “When the school started we were only 10 members, but today there are 30 members (23 women and 7 men).  The fact that the number of women outnumbers the number of men does not bother Anyasi:  “It is a good idea to work with the men, but they suppress us, and take more than their share of the harvest for themselves.  So it is better to do it on our own”, Anyasi points out.
 
The Danish Refugee Council’s Farmer Field School activities in Kajo Keji are funded by DANIDA and co-operate closely with a similar program operating on the Ugandan side of the border. Examples of how Farmer Field Schools work, are teaching about improved seed varieties, organic pest control and spacing between crops/rows for increased yields.

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