in South Sudan, women’s struggle for survival in the face of soaring food prices
[ad_1]
To not miss any African news, Subscribe to the newsletter from “World Africa” from this link. Every Saturday at 6 a.m., find a week of news and debates covered by the editorial staff of the “World Africa”.
On the large metal barrel containing a fermented mixture of water, sugar and yeast, Regina Adie, 34, stacks two saucepans then rolls up long pieces of fabric at the junction of each ” stage “. This distillation device must be perfectly hermetic to, once placed on the fire, produce this drink called soco to South Sudan : a strong and transparent alcohol like gin, thanks to the sale of which this mother earns enough to feed her seven children. A traditional skill and a lifeline for many women with no other source of income, as South Sudan, one of the world’s poorest countries, is hit hard by rising world prices of basic necessities.
“We have not been going out to cultivate our fields since 2016 because of insecurity”explains the craftswoman, referring to the presence of armed herdsmen on the edge of her district of Gumbo, located on the east bank of the Nile in Juba, the South Sudanese capital. “Before, we were good! », sshe recalls: peanuts, okra, eggplants or sweet potatoes came to replenish daily life and fill stomachs. Today, his little vegetable garden is not enough to feed all the mouths. “You have to buy products on the market”, she says. And somehow juggle with ever-increasing prices.
The country is going through a serious economic crisis, a consequence of the civil war that started in 2013 – a peace agreement signed in 2018 is struggling to put an end to it. The Covid-19 pandemic, catastrophic floods since 2020 and, to top it off, the war in Ukraine, have only made matters worse. According to the United Nations, 8.3 million South Sudanese are in a situation of food insecurity, or nearly 70% of the country’s population.
“We can’t take it anymore”
“Since Covid-19 and the disruption of food supply chains, prices have never gone down in South Sudan”, explains Robert Pitya, who heads the Chamber of Commerce of the State of Equatoria-Central (the Juba region) and monitors price fluctuations on the markets. Soaring world food prices and the country’s almost total dependence on imports are fueling inflation. Robert Pitya also points out the customs duties as well as the taxes levied by the city of Juba which are “too important”as well as ” the value of the South Sudanese pound against the dollar which continues to fall ». Traders needing dollars to import goods that they resell in local currency, they pass on these losses to their prices. “But merchants also raise their prices excessively,” blames the manager.
According to him, since the beginning of the year, the State of Central Equatoria has recorded inflation of at least 40%. The price of certain products has even been multiplied by two or even three times. A 50 kg bag of maize flour has gone from 12,000 Sudanese pounds (about 25 dollars at the current exchange rate) a year ago to 35,000 pounds. The cost of gasoline has more than tripled, impacting all the goods and services of daily life, in particular water delivered by tanker trucks, in the absence of a water distribution network at the tap. .
“Everything is expensive! Water, food… We can’t take it anymore”, sighs Suzan Michael Oburok, 45 and mother of eight. She also distills alcohol to survive, and collects cooking wood to resell it on the market. “But some days I earn nothing and my children and I drink water and go to bed without eating” she lets go. All of her children have had to drop out of school and spend their time hanging out in Konyo-Konyo, Juba’s central market. ” They fly and can get hit, she worries. When they are sick, I treat them with local herbs, I have no money to take them to the hospital. I can’t buy anything but food. »
“Everyone is hungry here in Gumbo, says Clément Obwaha, a neighborhood chief. Since we stopped cultivating, people have nothing to do. It is only the production of alcohol that makes it possible to earn a living. » In addition to insecurity, the expansion of the South Sudanese capital and land grabbing, common on the east bank of the Nile, have reduced the areas dedicated to agriculture to nothing.
“Our children are becoming criminals”
In Konyo-Konyo, wheelbarrows filled with fruits and vegetables intertwine. It is opulence. But, around the market, poverty is everywhere. Shadows rummage through the mountain of trash, hoping to find something to eat. Kids in tattered clothes carry bags bigger than themselves, filled with empty plastic bottles – they make a little something out of them by reselling them to vendors.
In the part of the market dedicated to vegetables produced on the fertile banks of the Nile, vendors wait for their customers in the shade of parasols. Khudra, okra, sukuma – green vegetables to cook in sauce – are transported every morning from the areas where they still cultivate. But with the surge in fuel prices, profits have melted. One of the merchants, Olga Furu, curses. “What we earn doesn’t allow us to buy anything, our children don’t have enough to eat and paying for school is impossible! », she gets angry, angry at the authorities who “do nothing to help us”. “Our children become criminals and our husbands become mad, she gets carried away. They sit at home doing nothing, and we keep asking them to pay this or that… They end up leaving! »
Enisia Kaku has been living without her husband for a long time. “I don’t know my age! It’s been too long ! », says this rough-handed old woman. She takes a sip of soco offered by his neighbor, Regina Adie, and gets carried away. “There is no flour! », she cries, slapping her chest. To survive, the grandmother picks up stones, which she transforms into gravel using a hammer. She sells a wheelbarrow for 3,000 pounds ($4.5). It takes him about ten days of this ungrateful labor to manage to produce this quantity. “Nobody helps me” she said raising her hands to the sky.
[ad_2]
Source link
