Sudan’s farms could feed millions not reached by aid

Private investment could reduce hunger and prop up a collapsing economy

August 4, 2026

Dark-skinned hand with a starburst tattoo holding crops in a garden.

The war had an immediate, catastrophic effect on Sudan’s agriculture. Cereal production fell 46 percent in the first year, and by 2025, almost 90 percent of farmers and producer groups were reporting smaller harvests, with yields declining by as much as 71 percent in places where the fighting has been fiercest.

Now three years into the war, Sudan’s food crisis is the largest in the world. Over 19 million people struggle to get enough to eat. In the worst affected areas, families and children are severely malnourished and too weak to fight off diseases like TB and cholera.

This horrifying situation calls to our humanity. But falling levels of aid mean the crisis can only partly be alleviated by humanitarian action. With the UN’s emergency appeal around 30 percent funded, the only way to reach most people is to support them to help themselves, to make sure local food production, markets and trade systems can recover enough to provide nutrition and incomes around the country.

Urgent and sustained investment can make this possible, according to new analysis from UNDP and the International Trade Centre (ITC), which draws on more than 80 consultations across 13 states to provide the most comprehensive overview of Sudan’s food system to date.

The report finds that key crops like sorghum and sesame are still being harvested and that herders can still move livestock across the country, sometimes even through active frontlines, but that producers struggle to access inputs and credit, while the network of roads, traders, markets and ports needed for the agricultural sector to function properly has suffered immense damage.

Women Farm workers in robes walking single file through a crop field under a blue sky. — Cereal production in Sudan has declined by as much as 71 percent in places where fighting has been fierce.

Photo: UNDP Sudan

The market island effect

Before the war, Sudan was a potential breadbasket, with 170 million acres of arable land, Nile-fed irrigation and adequate rain. 

Now the agricultural sector has been split into what researchers call ‘market islands’–pockets where prices, supply and demand have become disconnected from the rest of the country, and sometimes from one town to the next.

Staple food prices in some areas exceed 200 percent above pre-conflict levels, even where harvests continue. Transaction costs have risen 30–40 percent due to checkpoints, security escorts and informal taxation. In besieged towns like Kadugli, this isolation has been catastrophic. Prices for basic staples have spiraled even as nearby areas have surpluses. In other parts of the country, hunger is driven by failing markets, rising prices and falling incomes as a result of unemployment and displacement.

The finance gap

Banking infrastructure has partly collapsed and the cost of borrowing has surged. Trader-advance financing now costs farmers 5-10 percent per month, eating directly into already thin margins. The Agricultural Bank of Sudan has temporarily halted lending altogether due to inflation and over 60 percent of farmers say they're unaware of available financing options or can't meet collateral requirements.

Smallholders can be knocked over by a single economic blow, whether that’s a bad harvest or a bad exchange rate. They can’t put money back into fertilizers and other essentials for the next crop and many are pushed toward smaller subsistence plots, shrinking the surplus needed for markets to operate.

Photo: Woman farmer in a patterned robe and headscarf with a green basket in a sunny field. — Sudan's agricultural sector has been split into ‘market islands’–pockets where prices, supply and demand have become disconnected from the rest of the country.

Photo: UNDP Sudan

Seven crops that can change Sudan

The UNDP-ITC analysis looked closely at seven value chains (sorghum, sesame, groundnuts, soybean, gum arabic, hibiscus and livestock) that have the potential to dramatically affect food insecurity and income levels.

At UNDP, we have been providing farmers with tools and machinery, training and finance. We’ve also supported local actors to restore markets and restart or grow small businesses, with much of that help directed at women and youth.

Infographic showing Sudan's seven priority value chains. — Seven value chains have the potential to dramatically affect food insecurity and income levels.

Photo: UNDP Sudan

“We know what works from decades of experience, and now from robust analysis of Sudan’s market conditions,” says Arvind Kumar, UNDP Sudan’s Team Leader for Resilience and Recovery. “Over the next few months, we’ll be stepping up our assistance to farmers and also bring together ministries, donors, development agencies, NGOs and agricultural groups to mobilize resources and chart a path forward to recovery.”

Through the Sudan Credit Guarantee System, UNDP and Ebdaa Bank For Microfinance have provided business and financial literacy training for 400 small enterprises in Kassala, Gedaref, White Nile and Northern states.

Now, de-risked loans are reaching businesses, enabling them to invest, stabilize and grow, boosting incomes and employment in their communities.

Group photo of diverse adults posing; some are holding blue certificates. — De-risked loans are reaching businesses, enabling them to invest, stabilize and grow, boosting incomes and employment in their communities.

Photo: UNDP Sudan

Credit for women-led businesses

Two women in hijabs hold blue booklets in front of a undp and partnership banner. — Lubna Mohammed Al-Sheikh (left). Photo: UNDP Sudan

Lubna Mohammed Al-Sheikh established her pastry company in Khartoum in 2018. When the war erupted, she fled to Northern State, leaving everything behind, including her ovens and mixers.

But Lubna refused to give up. She resolved to restart her business and use it to teach others who needed to find jobs in the war’s shattered economy. With support from with UNDP and Ebdaa Bank, she can secure the industrial equipment needed to boost production and run training classes.

Local services and youth employment

In a remote village in Gedaref, support from UNDP and Ebdaa Bank allowed Abdul Rahim Idris to expand his small solar-powered stationery shop.

He offers copy services, school supplies and printing for official documents, essential services for small businesses like his, as well as providing new job opportunities for local youth. His success shows how finance can bring economic benefits beyond the initial outlay.

Man in a gray t-shirt sits at a workshop table with laptops. — Abdul Rahim Idris runs a solar-powered stationery shop, providing essential services for his community and for small businesses.

Photo: UNDP Sudan

Group of women in colorful traditional clothing preparing biscuits at a kitchen table. — Savings and Loan Associations help women pool business resources. By producing and selling biscuits, which sell out as soon as they are baked, Sara can support her family and pay her son’s school fees.

Photo: UNDP Sudan

Financing food security

Sara lost everything when she fled Omdurman and found herself in a remote village in River Nile state with no income or job. Now she’s rebuilding her life with support from one of UNDP’s Village Savings and Loan Associations, set up with support from the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit.

The Associations help women pool business resources. By producing and selling biscuits, which sell out as soon as they are baked, Sara has been able to support her family and pay her son’s school fees.

But beyond the economic benefits, the project fosters a sense of community and mutual support. “The most important thing is movement, energy and sharing life with others,” Sara says.

Tools to reach the right people

When you’ve lost everything, even simple tools can make all the difference. Garden hoes were provided by UNDP and IACS to displaced farmers who’d been forced to abandon all their possessions when they fled violence. Now in Ghalal Nahl in Gedaref, they can clear weeds and sow the available land using seeds and training that are also provided as part of the project.

As funding levels fall, it’s more important than ever to direct assistance to those who need it most. For this project, we chose Kassala and Gedaref because these states held the largest number of displaced people in the region. Then we focused on the poorest communities and most vulnerable households, including those headed by children, women and the disabled, elderly or sick.

Elderly man in white traditional clothing, holding tools and standing in a rural village with thatched huts. — Even simple tools such as garden hoes can help farmers get back to work, tending the land and feeding their communities.

Photo: UNDP Sudan

Solar irrigation

Irrigation has always been the most important part of bringing the land to life in Sudan. For many farmers, the availability of fuel to power water pumps once determined whether a farming season would succeed or fail, and when the war sent prices skyrocketing, failure came too often.

With the support of UNDP and partners including the Qatar Fund for Development and the Education Above All Foundation, communities across Sudan now benefit from solar powered irrigation, bringing reliable water supplies and much lower operating costs. This turns small farms, many run by women, into dependable sources of income and nutrition.

Two people stand beside a white pickup in a dusty rural scene with orange bundles on the ground. — UNDP has been providing farmers with tools and machinery, training and finance, restoring markets and restarting or growing small businesses.

Photo: UNDP Sudan

Several goats and donkeys lean over a metal water trough and drink. — Solar powered irrigation is bringing reliable water supplies and much lower operating costs. This turns small farms into dependable sources of income and nutrition.

Photo: UNDP Sudan

Growing markets

This women-led market in River Nile state is solar lit, child friendly and equipped with essential services, like washrooms and phone charging stations, making a place where women have everything they need to run small businesses.

The market was refurbished by UNDP with funding and support from the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit.

Photograph of a woman in a colorful striped poncho at a market stall under a canopy. — The women-led market in River Nile state is solar lit, child friendly and equipped with washrooms and phone charging stations, making a place where women have everything they need to run small businesses.

Photo: UNDP Sudan

Women’s co-ops

At this Dar As Salaam women’s association in North Darfur, they’re producing cheese. UNDP provided training and milking equipment before the war broke out, and it continues being put to good use. Recently, the women sent us a video to show their latest products.

Women in colorful clothing gather and cook around a large basin. — The Dar As Salaam women’s association in North Darfur produces cheese thanks to training and equipment provided by UNDP before the war broke out.

Photo: UNDP Sudan

“I’m so happy we provided them with something that has remained with them,” says Programme Manager John Anodam, who is running similar interventions across Sudan. “They can continue to survive even under these conditions.”

Colorful crowd in traditional dress celebrates outside a school with an arched entrance. — Solar-powered community centres provide dedicated spaces for women to come together, learn new skills and run small businesses.

Photo: UNDP Sudan

Training, community and small businesses

Solar-powered Merkazi Centres, like this one in West Galabat, provide dedicated spaces for women to come together, learn new skills and run small businesses. With guaranteed power and basic office equipment, they've also rapidly become community hubs where women can share a cup of tea and their latest ideas in a safe and empowering environment. Across Sudan, they now host small women-run enterprises, often set up thanks to UNDP-supported savings and loans schemes or after UNDP has helped arrange credit and training.

The centres also serve as hubs for other projects, as distribution point for portable solar kits or as the charging centres for solar-powered tuk tuks.

In this way they demonstrate how support for small businesses can lead to economic growth that speeds those benefits far and wide for a growing, sustainable recovery.