This current study was designed with the aim of adding value to what is already known. Apart from UNDP’s work, it is striking how little has been written about cash crops in Darfur in the last couple of decades. A review of literature on the topic revealed how little dedicated research there has been.
What is available on the cash crop trade is almost always discussed in the general context of trade and market functions for all agricultural and livestock commodities. Much more appears to have been written about the impact of climate change on agriculture than the impact of a decade of conflict on agriculture and specifically on cash crops, which are a critical component of the rural economy. This study aims to fill this gap. The timing of the study was fortuitous: in the 2012 agricultural season, groundnut production in Darfur reached its highest level since the conflict began a decade ago. This presented an opportunity to explore why this was the case, and also the constraints to trade, which have been thrown into sharp focus during 2013.