Warnings of Failure of the Agricultural Season

Sudan Events – Rehab Abdullah

Sudan Platform for Agriculture and Food Security warned of the imminent failure of the 2024 summer agricultural season, explaining that it is the most important agricultural season in Sudan.
It represents the period of time during which agricultural activity increases and efforts are made to produce major grain crops such as corn and millet and cash crops such as sesame, peanuts, cotton, sunflower and legumes.
She affirmed that the summer season is considered the main contributor to achieving food security and providing foreign currencies and is the engine of the Sudanese economy by providing job opportunities and stimulating food industries and agricultural manufacturing and providing feed for poultry, fattening livestock and producing dairy products.
Sudan Platform for Agriculture and Security said that the 2024 summer season comes while the country is going through very difficult circumstances. Due to the war, farmers have abandoned their villages and farms in most of the western states, Khartoum and Gezira , and the supply of agricultural inputs has stopped due to the cessation of private sector companies after their warehouses were looted and their properties stolen.
Banks have refrained from providing financing due to the cessation of most of their activities, addition to the shrinking role of the federal government due to the security situation in Khartoum and the states and its weak role. It pointed out that the closure of roads and the high prices of transportation have weakened the ability of producers to purchase inputs, especially agricultural chemicals, seeds, fertilizers and burlap, noting that major international companies provide, through their local agents, various options for the latest agricultural chemicals such as herbicides, insecticides and pesticides according to strict controls from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, in addition to the fact that the private sector also provides capital inputs such as tractors and various agricultural equipment, in addition to the fact that there is a globally approved mechanism for agricultural input supply chains that regulates the financing, manufacturing, transportation, handling and storage of these inputs. There are schedules linked to a time limit that must be adhered to to ensure the arrival of inputs before the start of the agricultural season and their transport to production areas to be received there before the start of the summer season. The Sudan Platform for Agriculture and Food Security affirmed the need to pay attention to the success of the summer agricultural season, and said, “It is the concern of all production partners from farmers with their various organizations and from the private sector and the government sector that organizes committees of chambers to make the season a success in all states and all production areas.
The private sector also provides input providers, service providers and fuel company agents. Industrial areas in agricultural production areas are active in maintaining tractors and agricultural equipment and preparing them for the season.
Market activity is active before the season to provide the requirements of agriculture and farmers from food supplies, storage and transport to production sites, particularly remote ones.