Sudan Agriculture Minister: War Has Caused us to Lose Cultivation of 10 Million Fedans
Sudan Events – Agencies
The Sudanese Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Abu Bakr Omar Al-Bushra, has revealed that the areas targeted for agriculture had decreased to 36 million fedans due to the war, after it was planned to cultivate 46 million fedans.
Omar Al-Bushra said – in a statement to Al Jazeera Net – that the war affected agriculture in Sudan and cash and food crops, because it is a comprehensive war that included several states, as the 5 states of the Darfur region, the states of West and South Kordofan, Gezira and Khartoum were affected, and the impact was significant in delivering agricultural inputs to these regions, as well as labor shortages.
Al-Bushra revealed that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had looted machinery, production inputs, and fertilizers from the Gezira Scheme, where it was planned to plant 650,000 fedans of wheat, but only between 220 and 250,000 fedans were planted.
He added, “We are counting on the rest of the wheat-producing states, which are the White Nile State, the Northern State, the River Nile State and the Halfa Agricultural Corporation.”
Al-Bushra said that Sudan continued to produce about 500,000 tons of Gum Arabic, and production decreased due to the repercussions of the war.
He continued, “To avoid the effects of war and the occurrence of famine, we focused the previous summer season on cultivating basic grains such as sorghum and millet, because they represent the livelihood of the majority of the population. About 23 million fedans of sorghum and millet were cultivated in the previous season, and productivity was lower than the previous season. This year we produced about 3 Millions of tons of sorghum, without counting the production of the Darfur and Gezira regions, and the states of Kordofan (West).”
For his part, Agricultural Engineer in the Food Security Department in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ammar Hassan Bashir, said that the war affected all food security indicators directly and indirectly, and harmed the food chain, production, harvesting, transport and storage.
Ammar added – in his speech to Al Jazeera Net – rates of insecurity rose, the economic infrastructure in the country was damaged, and the harvesting process was disrupted in Gezira State, which affected the food chain.
For his part, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Jibriel Ibrahim, said during a meeting with the head of the World Food and Agriculture Organization mission, Bryn Poulsen, that the actual food gap is much less than the size circulated in the media.
Jibriel confirmed – according to the Sudan News Agency – that there is no famine in Sudan, given that there is no problem in production, indicating that the main challenge is distributing production and delivering it to the needy in different regions, such as South Kordofan, where the government faces difficulties in providing safe paths.
A year after the war
As the war between the Sudanese army and the RSF continues since mid-April 2023, the chances of saving the Sudanese economy, to which the military confrontations have aimed greatest blow, are diminishing.
With most families in Sudan losing their sources of income, and the massive effects of the war on the labor market, trade, agriculture, and industry, the circle has become narrower and narrower for Sudanese inside the country, internally fleeing, and refugees.
In a previous report, an official in the Sudanese Ministry of Finance told Al Jazeera Net that the proportion of state revenues decreased by 85% with the passage of a full year of fighting, and it is expected that the poverty index in the country will rise to more than 90% after employees and workers lose their jobs, and then not receive their salaries.
