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Economic Recovery in Yambio Stalled by War, Weather and Tax

Economic Recovery in Yambio Stalled by War, Weather and Tax

The land in Yambio is lush, rich in colour, and fertile – the perfect place to grow crops and raise farm animals.

Located in the Western Equatorias region of South Sudan, Yambio is just 20 kilometres from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which should make it easy to transport and trade those crops across the border.

But the civil war that erupted in 2013 has, not only, inflicted physical pain and suffering but has also devastated the economy, particularly the ability of farmers to grow, harvest, and sell crops.

Yambio market stallholder, Moses Dennis, says while there continues to be isolated incidents of looting and violence, the overall security situation has improved, which is encouraging farmers back to their land.

“I want our situation to be okay because our farmers for a long time have been killed for nothing,” he said. “If the farmers are okay, they can go far to their farms to cultivate their crops and supply us with food.”

The main challenge in Yambio is the ongoing economic crisis. Many in the local community do not have jobs and therefore the money to buy food for their families. That has a flow-on effect for local businesses.

“Before we used to get some profit but these days business is hard,” says stallholder Christine Lakot. “There are no people buying. Most people have gone away or do not have enough money to buy food.”

Local farmers cultivate mainly food crops such as cassava, sweet potatoes, groundnuts, maize, rice and fruits. However, many goods on sale in Yambio are imported. It is difficult to access those goods right now because of the damage to the roads caused by war and the weather during the rainy season. Sometimes the journey with their fruit and vegetables takes so long that the produce spoils before they can get it to market.

High taxes on their stalls and goods are also eating into their profits. So even though the environment is more secure, they’re still struggling.

“Yeah it is safe to bring the goods. As long as the road is repaired, we can get our things back here nicely,” says Christine Lakot. “But they should reduce the taxation on food items because we sell to the poor, we don’t sell to the rich people. So if they taxation is too high it brings everyone’s costs up.”

The Yambio stallholders are entrepreneurs who want to work. They want to get ahead and for the country to succeed. Sitting back and waiting for help from the international community is simply not an option.

“If I am idle without anything to do, I will feel anger and, from anger, I will go and steal something from someone which will make me go to prison and stay there,” says Moses Dennis.”

Local authorities acknowledge the challenges faced by businesses but say durable peace is necessary before the country can move forward with economic recovery.

“The people of South Sudan must embrace the National Dialogue to make sure we work for peace in our country, to make sure we change our attitudes towards one another to have love among ourselves, to have unity so that we can work for the common agenda which is the maintenance of peace in our country. That will take us forward to the development of our nation,” says Gbudwe State Governor, Daniel Badagbu.

The local Minister of Education, Pia Philip Michael, says that training programmes vital to helping people develop the skills they need to support themselves.

“We need to reach out to our communities to see how we can help them, especially the youth,” he says. “People are traumatised and the question is how to bring them back together. We need to empower our people and our communities. That is the challenge for us.”

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is supporting development by protecting civilians and building durable peace in the region. It is also funding a number of quick impact projects, including vital infrastructure like water supply systems.

UNMISS is also advocating for an increase in capacity building programs to train local people in skills like carpentry and farming so they can move from dependence to being empowered to take control of their own lives.