Question

What are the solution of the problems facing cattle keeping in South Sudan

Answer 1

Livestock are critically important in South Sudanese society1 and this is reflected in the role livestock play in the country’s conflict, both serving as drivers of conflict and being negatively impacted by the conflict, with the two often reinforcing each other in a vicious cycle.

This review drew largely on a mixture of academic and grey literature to assess the relationship between livestock and conflict in South Sudan. While gender issues were addressed to some extent in the available literature, the review found nothing on persons with disabilities.

Livestock are massively important in South Sudan. The sector is the main source of income and food for the majority of the population: pastoral farming is appropriate for South Sudan’s challenging ecology, characterised by flooding, drought, swamplands and so on. Livestock bestows social status and prestige. They are used for payment of dowries, to pay compensation and settle disputes, and – in the absence of an established banking sector – serve as a reliable way to keep assets. Livestock outnumbers people in South Sudan, leading to strain on natural resources – exacerbated by the fact that they are so revered that people rarely kill their animals for meat, preferring to pay for imported meat.

The South Sudan region has seen the almost continual conflict for the past several decades: first civil war between the South Sudanese and the Government of Sudan, then following South Sudan’s independence in 2011, the civil war within South Sudan. Since the outbreak of the latest conflict in December 2013, over 4.5 million people are estimated to have been displaced in South Sudan,  including 2.47 million refugees (ACAPS, 2018). Given the centrality of livestock to South Sudanese economy, culture and society it is not surprising that livestock have an important role in conflict: both as drivers of conflict, and being negatively impacted by conflict. Moreover, these two facets are heavily intertwined, with one often reinforcing the other.