Using floods as a catalyst for growth

Arop Mayik, a 28-year-old resident of Turalei in South Sudan, had to drop out of school when she was seven years old because her parents could not afford it. She stayed home to help her family with household chores such as crushing sorghum, looking after livestock, and cleaning out cow dung. She got married at 17 and now has six children.

Flooding in her village has been a common occurrence since she was a baby. In the past, it used to happen every two to three years, but in the last three years, it has been continuous. The floods destroy houses, crops, and livestock. Families have to move to neighboring villages that are not affected by floods to spend two to four months until the land dries and they can rebuild their homes.

The communities also build dikes as a common approach to protect their homes from flooding, but it is not always effective, especially in areas with frequent or severe flooding. Dikes can only hold back a certain amount of water, and if the flood exceeds the capacity of the dikes, homes and other structures can still be damaged or destroyed.

In addition, relying solely on dikes does not address the root causes of flooding, such as climate change, deforestation, overflow of water from surrounding rivers, from other locations or poor land use practices. It is important to take a more comprehensive approach to flood prevention that includes measures to mitigate the impact of flooding, such as flood-resistant building materials, elevated homes, and effective evacuation plans.

With the continuous occurrence of floodwater covering the farmland in the area coupled with other challenges limiting farming practices, the livelihood foundations for the community are compromised. To help support crop production in the community, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) provided support for farmers to learn how to cultivate rice.

Arop Mayik harvesting rice. Photo: NRC Hamelmal Getachew

Arop was selected by the chief to register for the project. She and a group of other farmers were trained on different techniques of rice cultivation including raw planting, weeding, harvesting, drying, threshing, and more. She also received cash assistance to fence the land they will be using for cultivating the rice. Arop and each group member received 15kg of rice to plant and was able to make double the profit from rice production compared to sorghum.

“The profit we made from this production is double the profit that we normally get from sorghum,” she said.

This year, she expects to harvest up to 10 bags of rice, which will allow her to send one more child to school.

The rice seed introduced to this community does not require any fertilizer or pesticide.

Similarly, Akok Deng, a widow in Mangok, was supported by NRC in 2020 and received training on vegetable production, rice production, post-harvest management, marketing, and business skills. She was also provided with tools and seeds for different crops. Akok appreciates all the support she has received and emphasised that the rice production support is unique.

“The support and training we received has resulted in the most significant change I have seen. We get additional income which enables us to access health facilities and other services,” she says. “I have also constructed another house for my family after the first one was destroyed by the floods”

"We are now even more respected by our community.”

Alok weeds her rice garden. Photo: NRC/ Barbara Kemisa

Rice is a backup plan for when other crops are destroyed by floods. With the support from NRC, she now has more options.

“Sorghum gets washed away by the flood but now we have rice, we think this will change our lives,” one of the women farmers said.

At NRC, we believe that promoting sustainable food production in conflict-affected communities is key to ensuring their long-term resilience and self-sufficiency. While our immediate focus is on providing life-saving assistance, we also work to empower communities to increase their agricultural output, particularly in areas where there is relative stability.

By doing so, we aim to not only improve food security for these communities but also enable them to support neighbouring communities living in less stable and less conducive environments. We are constantly seeking innovative approaches to achieve these goals, such as flood farming, which allows communities to turn natural disasters into opportunities for growth and development.