For a returnee family, a maize field is more than a crop. It is months of meals stored away. It is one less reason to fear the lean season. It is the difference between a child eating twice a day and going to bed hungry.
Families who returned from Kakuma after food assistance was reduced know hunger well. In the camp, they watched their rations shrink under the new differentiated system. When they came back to South Sudan, they had no stored grain and no means to grow any.
With farming tools provided by EcoRise South Sudan, these families cleared and planted their land. The healthy maize in this photo shows what careful work and the right support can achieve. Standing tall and green, these rows represent food security for the household through the coming months.
Maize is a staple. When a family grows its own, it no longer has to spend scarce cash buying grain at high market prices, or sell its few assets to survive. That money can instead go to children’s education, health care and building a better home.
Food security does not arrive all at once. It is planted one row at a time, by families who are determined to stand on their own feet again.
#EcoRiseSouthSudan #IREP #SouthSudan #Returnees #FoodSecurity #ClimateResilience
With support from @Cohere and @Quadrature Climate Foundation
