Sudan says deteriorating storage capacity causes grain waste
May 11, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The Strategic Reserves department at the Agricultural Bank of Sudan (ABS) has acknowledged that the lack of storage capacity in the country has resulted in losing a quarter of grain production in the country.
Mohamed noted the gap between sorghum production which amounted to 4.3 million tons while the storage capacity was a mere 650,000 tons.
In a related issue, Mohamed told the official news agency (SUNA) that Sudan’s annual wheat consumption is around 2 million tons while its production is only 300,000 tons.
He also revealed that there are 1.2 million bags of sorghum currently in storage on top of 1.5 million bags intended for export.
The director further added that there are 164,000 tons of wheat in storages and pointed out that they are expecting the arrival of an additional 100,000 tons from India this month.
Mohamed described that production levels of sorghum, wheat, millet and other grains as “comfortable” in all states including Darfur, South Kordofan, Blue Nile and war-affected areas.
In 2010, Sudan’s former minister of agriculture, Abdel-Haleem al-Mutafi, said that Sudan targeted self-sufficiency in wheat production in five years’ time and also plans to expand output of other grain crops.
(ST)