A South Korean military contingent stationed in South Sudan plans to establish an agricultural technology center this year to teach farming techniques and help address food insecurity in the country, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Friday.

The JCS unveiled the plan for the Hanbit unit to build the center by the end of the year after it successfully harvested rice in South Sudan in January using South Korean rice planting techniques.

Since 2014, the unit has operated a farm to grow corn and other crops to combat food shortages around the central city of Bor, where it is headquartered. But heavy downpours in 2022 flooded the farm, making it unsuitable for crop cultivation.

With support from Dr. John Garang Memorial University of Science and Technology in the country, the unit decided to start growing rice in October 2022 with South Korean farming methods, considering the characteristics of South Sudanese soil that retains water, the JCS said.

This January, the unit successfully harvested around 200 ki
lograms of rice from a 400-square-meter field within the university’s grounds.

On the back of the harvest, the unit plans to expand its rice farming to a 10,800-square-meter field and create the agricultural technology center to pass on farming techniques to the university’s students and nearby residents, according to the JCS.

South Korea first deployed the Hanbit unit in 2013 to help maintain peace and assist in recovery efforts in the East African country, which has been rocked by a civil war.

The unit’s latest rotation of some 270 troops departed South Korea in phases last month for an eight-month mission.

Source: Yonhap News Agency