Decades of hands-on experience in frontier locations informs us to always be prepared for unexpected challenges to arise. Buffer capacity must be built into the business model to withstand things such as: COVID-19 lockdowns severely interrupting operations of farm inputs supply chains; necessity for alternative strategies to address unexpectedly severe infestations of fall army worm and sorghum midge insect pests; challenges with securing high-quality management when South Sudan is not a highly sought-after destination.

In a pioneering venture, it is virtually impossible to hire experienced local tractor and equipment operators. A hybrid training programme has been developed relying on experienced Kenyan and Ugandan operators, each of them accompanied by a local trainee whom they mentor on-the-job throughout the course of the cropping season across the various operations – primary tillage, cultivation, levelling, planting, spraying, fertiliser application, harvesting, tractor-trailer operations to the field, etc. In time, these local trainees ‘graduate’ to be proficient independent operators.