(Reuters) -In the lush highlands of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, coffee crops are rotting and withering as an escalation in the decades-long conflict in the region has kept farmers from tending to their land this year.

Fighting between the government and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels escalated at the start of the year as rebels seized major cities in North and South Kivu provinces, prime coffee-growing areas known for their high-quality Arabica beans.

The latest hostilities have killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands more, including farmers. They have also blocked export routes, threatening to curtail what had been a remarkable recovery for the nation’s coffee industry following years of decline.

Coffee bean production in Congo topped 100,000 metric tons a year in the

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