In war-torn Sudan, where hunger is a growing concern, an emergency wheat production project has yielded impressive results.
The initiative, a collaboration between the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Food Programme (WFP), led to a nearly 70% increase in wheat production across five states in the past year.
Significant Investment in Emergency Wheat Production
The African Development Bank provided a total of $75 million to the World Food Programme to implement the Sudan Emergency Wheat Production Project over a two-year period. This financial commitment underscores the urgency of addressing food insecurity in the region.
Nnenna Nwabufo, the African Development Bank’s Director General for East Africa, emphasized the critical timing of this project. Sudan faces an impending hunger catastrophe due to the ongoing conflict, which has severely disrupted agricultural activities. The project’s success offers a glimmer of hope in a challenging situation.
Impressive Wheat Yield and Impact
The project has not only significantly increased wheat production but has also made a substantial contribution to meeting Sudan’s domestic wheat demand. In the current year alone, the project has fulfilled 22% of the country’s wheat requirements. These results demonstrate the viability of boosting domestic production to address the escalating levels of hunger and malnutrition in Sudan.
Mary Monyau, the AfDB’s Country Manager for Sudan, highlighted the project’s focus on supporting smallholder farmers. By providing climate-resilient certified wheat seed varieties and fertilizers to farmers in targeted areas, the project has not only ensured food security but also served as a critical crisis response for internally displaced persons (IDPs), who constitute over 30% of the beneficiaries in the Northern State.
Building on Previous Successes and Partnerships
The project builds upon earlier successful wheat production initiatives under the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) program, implemented from 2018 to 2021. This demonstrates how longer-term development interventions can effectively address both short-term humanitarian and emergency needs while strengthening resilience for the future.
The collaboration between the AfDB and the WFP has been instrumental in achieving positive results in at least five states, despite the ongoing conflict in the country.
Eddie Rowe, the WFP Representative and Country Director in Sudan, acknowledged the devastating impact of the conflict on agriculture, noting that Sudan has only produced half of its normal wheat output. The funding from the African Development Bank has enabled the WFP to mitigate some of the war’s adverse effects on wheat production.
Distribution of Climate-Adapted Seeds and Fertilizers
The project distributed climate-adapted wheat seeds and fertilizers to over 170,000 smallholder farmers across five states during the 2023-2024 farming season. This effort covered areas in relatively stable northern and eastern states, as well as conflict-affected areas like Gezira and White Nile states.
On average, farmers experienced a remarkable 44% increase in productivity per hectare compared to the previous season. Notably, around 16,000 of the assisted farmers had been displaced by the conflict within the past thirteen months.
The project provided them with crucial support and resources to rebuild their livelihoods. Additionally, twelve combine harvesters were supplied to farmer associations in the Nile and Northern states to enhance harvesting efficiency and minimize losses.