Rainy season normally starts in April or May in Eastern Equatoria State.

But According to Governor Louis Lobong, areas of Kapeota counties received little rain this year.

Greater Kapeota consists of Kapoeta North, Kapoeta East, Kapoeta South counties.

Counties of Magwi, Lafon, Ikotos and Torit also experienced inadequate rainfall.

Governor Lobong says some people in counties that received little rainfall are at the risk of starvation.

He has appealed to the national government and humanitarian partners to intervene and mitigate the threat of looming hunger there.

“There is looming hunger in the state as all of you know that there has been a lack of rain in some counties. We need to prepare ahead of time,” Governor Lobong told Eye Radio in Torit on Tuesday.

“We need early preparation so that we intervene before people start moving into the urban areas, we need to support them in the rural areas.”

The Integrated food Security phase classification report of 2020 has indicated acute food insecurity in the country with some counties categorized as phase 5.

This has been attributed to a number of reasons such as conflict and natural disasters like floods and prolonged drought which has disrupted livelihoods of the local people.

South Sudan largely depends on imported food commodities from the neighboring countries, despite its huge potential in agriculture.

Most of the country’s land is arable but only 4% of it is cultivated, according to the official information from the Ministry of Agriculture.