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The staple food crops grown in South Sudan are sorghum and maize constituting 80% and 15% of production respectively. The purpose of this study is to explore effects of free sorghum and maize seed distributions to farmers in Jonglei state and to assess how these distributions affect farmer seed use of local varieties of these two crops. The guiding question: does free seed aid distribution have an effect on farmers' use of local varieties of sorghum and maize? The sub-questions are: do combination of local and modern (formal) seed makes farmers dependent on seed aid distribution? How do modern sorghum/maize varieties perform (in terms of yield) compared to local sorghum and maize varieties? In this study, the local seed varieties in question focus exclusively on sorghum and maize. A positive effect is defined as follows: despite free seed aid distribution to farmers, local seed varieties are still being grown by farmers. A negative effect is seen as the inverse: free seed aid distribution limits the use of local seed varieties. The project data was collected from four selected Counties in South Sudan: i.e. Bor, Twic East, Pochalla and Pibor. (A county is an administrative area governed by a commissioner). The project was delimited to two Payams (Payam is a sub-county, an administrative area governed by a civil administrator) per County. The sample size of those interviewed included 152 individual respondents and 10 focus groups. This sample included: farmers, focus groups (all were women), and officers working for various organizations i.e. government, non-governmental organizations and private sector. Findings indicate that local varieties have advantages over formal varieties as they are adapted to the environment and often have good resistance to flood dry spells, pest and diseases. Local varieties are also said by farmers, to be palatable. Grain from local varieties is also transformed into local brew which is consumed during special events like marriage or even at leisure. This is commonly practiced in Pochalla County. Although farmers liked local varieties, there are varieties they couldn't do without e.g. athil/beer in the case of Bor and Twic East. Gannue and zichinolo varieties are liked most in Pochalla and Pibor respectively. It is apparent that free seed aid distribution does not affect local varieties use in Bor, Twic East and Pibor. However, the inverse is true for Pochalla because farmers prefer either local or formal varieties. This indicates that, continued distribution of free seed aid by Agencies/NGOs in the County could result in likelihood of local varieties extinct in the County. It was also evident that some varieties which used to be in circulation before the war are now not in circulation. I am of the opinion that Donors, NGOs and UN Agencies try other approaches which can support local varieties of sorghum and maize. For instance, local seed fairs through voucher system targeting local varieties was tried by few NGOs and Agencies and appeared to be working pretty well. In this way, intervention accountability would be to the people (beneficiaries).

Free Seed Aid Distribution in South Sudan and its Effect on Local Varieties of Sorghum and Maize