Cereal production improves in Sudan amidst persistent food insecurity: FAO
March 28, 2023 (KHARTOUM) – There has been a significant improvements in cereal production in the Sudan, a recent UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 2022/23 Crops and Food Supply Assessment Mission (CFSAM) report shows.
The assessment was conducted at the request of the Agriculture and Forests ministry in close collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP), Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSN) and the United States aid arm (USAID).
According to the new report, most agricultural inputs, including seed, fertilizer, herbicides, fuel and labour, were available in 2022, but at a very high cost compared to the previous season. As a result, most farmers had to utilize seeds they had saved from the previous year’s harvest due to high market prices.
“Although overall cereal production at national level is impressively better than the previous season, food insecurity at the household level remains a serious challenge,” said Adam Yao, the FAO Representative in Sudan.
He added, “Communities are facing differing scales of vulnerabilities driven by soaring prices of staple crops, and the combined effects of economic downturn, high inflation, climate-induced hazards and conflict.”
The reports says the 2022 national cereal production, which includes sorghum, millet, and wheat crops (harvested in March 2023), is estimated at about 7.4 million tonnes – 45% above that obtained in 2021. Sorghum production alone is approximately 5.2 million tonnes, a 50% increase compared to the previous year.
It stressed, however, that the production of wheat to be harvested in March 2023 is forecasted at about 476,000 tonnes, which is a 30% decrease when compared to 2021 due to a reduction in planted area in favor of legumes and spices.
Meanwhile this significant increase in total cereal production can be attributed to favorable weather conditions, in particular a good performance of the rainy season, supported by over 5,000 tonnes of quality seeds of improved varieties supplied by FAO to strengthen vulnerable households ‘own food production.
Using the population projection of 47.6 million people for mid-2023 the cereal import requirements for the 2023 marketing year (January/December) are reportedly forecasted at 3.6 million tonnes, almost entirely of wheat, which will require an importation of 3.5 million tonnes to cover domestic consumption.
This, the report says, will have a major impact on the food security of millions of people, as international prices of wheat continue to increase and the country’s national currency weakens.
“It is essential to continue enhancing domestic cereal production to strengthen the food security and resilience of the most vulnerable people in the Sudan,” stressed Yao.
(ST)