Sudan set for bumper harvest, but millions still need food aid: FAO
ROME, Feb 11 (AFP) — Around 3.6 million people in battle-scarred Sudan will need food assistance this year despite forecasts of its biggest cereal harvest in years, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) announced in Rome.
The recent conflict in the Darfur region alone is estimated to have resulted in substantial losses of cropped areas and led to the displacement of about 1.2 million people,” the agency said in a report jointly compiled with the World Food Programme.
The report said that despite the bumper harvest, about 3.6 million people in the African country would need targeted food assistance during the year “mainly due to civil unrest”.
Sudanese government forces and militias have been fighting local rebels in the region since February last year. Peace talks set for Geneva next weekend have been called off.
A record harvest of some 6.3 million tonnes is forecast, more than 60 percent higher than last year and well above the average for the last five years, the Rome-based UN agencies said in the report on Sudanese crop production.
They warned that farmers will face financial difficulty due to higher production driving down prices.
Prices for sorghum, the most plentiful crop, “have already begun falling sharply”, the report said.