Violent civil conflict has reduced farmers in the Democratic Republic of Congo to smugglers. On the eastern border of the country, hundreds of smallholders package up their produce and risk their lives crossing Lake Kivu to Rwanda where they barter their hard-earned crops for soap, animals and basic household goods. Official figures show 20 farmers a week lose their lives crossing to Rwanda.
A new partnership project is giving more than 2,000 of these farmers a better option. If everything goes to plan between the UK’s Department of International Development (DFID), retailing company J Sainsbury and non-governmental organisation, Twin, these farmers will have their coffee branded and sold on supermarket shelves by the end of the year, earning them double what they are used to. DFID hopes that other companies will move in to take advantage of regenerated supply routes.
