The state agriculture minister has stressed the importance of using ox ploughs and in late 2015 announced the county had recently trained 750 ox-plough bulls.

The economy of Aweil South – and Northern Bahr el-Ghazal more broadly – has undergone a major transformation towards markets and commercialisation of labour.

Periodic closures of the border with Sudan (with which local markets have been historically integrated), runaway inflation and widespread insecurity since 2012 have further deepened this trend.

This has been reflected in high levels of food insecurity, indebtedness and exploitation as part of agricultural labour or participation in armed groups (Kindersley and Majok 2019).

This structural economic transformation partly explains why food insecurity has continued to be a challenge for Northern Bahr el-Ghazal State despite its relative stability.

An Associated Press article documented that communities in Aweil South were verging on famine in early 2017, and starting to depend increasingly on foraging for wild foods to supplement their diet (Mednick, 2017).

[7] Payams listed in Government and UN documents: Nyocawany I (County Headquarters), Ayai, Gakorl/Gakrol, Nyieth, Nyocawany II, Panthou, Tar-weng, Tiar-aleit, Wathmuok Alternative list of payams provided by local actors:Nyocawany (County Headquarters), Ayai, Gakorl/Gakrol, Majok-Abyei, Nyieth, Panthou, Tiar-aleit, Wathmuok Lawrence Lual Lual Akuey, former dupty speakerof the national legislative assembly Deng Deng Hoch Yai, former national Minister of general Education and instruction UNHAS-recognised Heli and Fixed-Wing Airplane Airstrips: None