Growing Hope for South Sudan
Africa’s youngest nation is heavily dependent on oil export and aid, but an ambitious Nespresso project could give the nation’s coffee farmers a way out of poverty
Originally published on The Guardian
The youngest of the African countries, South Sudan, is having teething problems. The promise of peace and prosperity after 39 years of civil war has been all but dashed. The conflict has displaced 1.5 million people, nearly half of the 11 million population faces hunger and economists are revising growth predictions downwards as instability and falling levels of oil production take their toll on the economy.
For the time being, the conflict is localised in the Upper Nile state in the north of the country. In stark contrast, an unlikely story of survival and even success is unfolding in the south. In the town of Yei, close to the borders with Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, farmers are rewriting their futures by reviving an age-old natural resource: coffee.
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