The United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has contributed $12 million to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to boost food production in Sudan.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), for the past months, has kept intensifying efforts to address the soaring acute food insecurity in Sudan, which is driven by the combined impacts of armed conflict, drought, COVID-19, low production of key staple crops related to infestation by pests and diseases, and economic turmoil.
According to the FAO Humanitarian Response Plan 2022 for Sudan, 10.9 million people, or 30 percent of Sudanese, are expected to need life-sustaining support in 2022, the highest number in the past decade.
In response to the dire food security situation – a situation that risks being further exacerbated by the cascading effects of the Ukraine conflict, FAO has launched a new project funded by the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), which aims to restore the food security and nutrition of affected farming and pastoral communities in Sudan through the provision of emergency agriculture and livestock supplies.
This vital $12 million contribution from CERF – the largest single allocation to FAO by CERF to date – will support urgent efforts to build the resilience of resource-poor farmers and pastoralists in Sudan’s 14 most severely affected counties, the FAO stated.
“This generous contribution from CERF means that FAO can urgently provide essential agricultural inputs to vulnerable farming households before the main agriculture season starts in June. It will ensure that they can produce enough food to meet their needs for the months to come.”
Babagana Ahmadu, FAO Representative to Sudan.
Responding to crises, calling for support
The project will target 180 000 households or 900 000 people among the most vulnerable farming and pastoralist communities, including internally displaced persons, returnees, refugees, and resident families. With two-thirds of the population living in Sudan’s rural areas, providing smallholder farmers with agricultural support is essential to the humanitarian response.
The project covers both agricultural and livestock assistance, which aims at rapidly reducing dependence on emergency food assistance and provides a basis for medium- and longer-term recovery. This assistance includes the provision of the certified crop, legume and vegetable seeds, donkey ploughs and hand tools, veterinary vaccines and drugs, animal protein-rich concentrate feed, mineral licks, and donkey carts and productive animals. It also includes providing cash and the rehabilitation of productive community assets such as small-scale water infrastructure, pasture, etc.
“The situation looks grim for millions as the war in Ukraine is causing further spikes in food prices, as Sudan is dependent on wheat imports from the Black Sea region. Interruption to grain flow into Sudan will increase prices and make it more challenging to import wheat. Currently, local wheat prices are at over $550 per tonne – an increase of 180 percent compared with the same period in 2021. For these reasons, this CERF allocation is timely and vital. We urgently need another $35 million to ensure adequate support for two million vulnerable farming and pastoral households to produce their food, keep their livestock alive and productive, and strengthen their resilience. ”
FAO
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