Director of the FAO Office of Emergencies and Resilience, Rein Paulsen, evaluates the food security situation on the ground and urges continued global support
Cereal production in Sudan has been severely affected by the conflict, which erupted in April 2023, likely pushing more people into hunger – the situation requires urgent and at-scale agricultural support ahead of the planting season starting in June, Rein Paulsen, Director of the FAO Office of Emergencies and Resilience, warned.
The production of sorghum, millet and wheat in 2023 was estimated at 4.1 million tonnes, down 46 per cent from the output obtained in the previous year and about 40 per cent below the average of the previous five years.
“This is a very practical manifestation of the impact of clashes, conflict and violence on food production. We have a context that requires urgent and appropriate support. This is why FAO’s interventions are so incredibly important at this point,” said Paulsen, who is currently on a field mission to the country to evaluate the food security situation on the ground.
After a year of civil war, almost 18 million people in Sudan are facing acute food insecurity at IPC 3 level or above (Crisis or worse). Of those, almost 5 million are in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency) and could slip into catastrophic food insecurity (IPC Phase 5) in the coming months. Areas where the conflict has been more intense, including the Greater Darfur and the Greater Kordofan regions and Khartoum State, are those with the most affected populations.
