Nespresso launches the new South Sudan’s first coffee

Nespresso has announced the launch of its first coffee to be exported from the new country of South Sudan. South Sudan has a long history of cultivating coffee, but the industry has largely been destroyed following conflict in the region. Nespresso’s Suluja ti South Sudan is the country’s first significant non-oil export in a generation, and represents a positive step towards rebuilding the economy. “Suluja ti South Sudan is an exceptional coffee, and we are very proud of the positive impact this project is having on farmers and their families,” said Nespresso CEO, Jean-Marc Duvoisin. Nespresso has been working with the non-profit organisation TechnoServe, to revive coffee production in the country since 2011. “We believe that the only way to continue to deliver quality and consistency to customers is to protect the supply of our coffees,” said Duvoisin. “And our experience has shown us that the best way to do this is to build a more environmentally sustainable and financially equitable outcome for farmers.” This is part of a long-term commitment by Nespresso, which has already invested more than US $700,000 in reviving the coffee industry in the Yei region of the country. The company aims to have invested US $2.5 million in the coming years and to expand the program to include several thousand farmers by 2020. “I have seen that there is great change within the community. We want to produce the right quality. People now have hope,” said Joseph Malish Thomas, a South Sudanese farmer. “We will be able to pay school fees for children and in the end develop the country.” Suluja ti South Sudan means Beginning of South Sudan in the indigenous language Kakwa which is the dominant local language spoken in the majority of the coffee areas in the region. Suluja ti South Sudan will be available in October to Nespresso Club Members in France in extremely limited volumes.