Growing vegetables, a fruitful way of life

_{LISI EMMANUEL, FIELD REPORTER JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN}
 
Pitia is a farmer who specialises in growing vegetables. He has up to five hectors of land and he plants eggplants, tomatoes, green dodo (amaranth), onions and okra.
 
As he showed me through his fields, he explained that he used to face low yield since he was using the local breed of seeds. Pitia is one of many farmers benefitting from World Vision’s agriculture initiatives, helping farmers around Juba improve their yield through trainings, improved seeds and farm inputs.
 
He told me that he used to plant the local dark purple eggplants which have a low market demand due to competition from other farmers. But thanks to World Vision, who provided him with a different eggplant variety, Pitia is getting a good price for his crops. They are used to prepare various kinds of dishes including salad. 
 
When they are ready to harvest, I’m looking forward to visiting Pitia and purchasing some of his eggplants as I haven’t tried them before!