Drought and famine relationships in Sudan: Policy implications (original) (raw)
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Sudan: Policy Reforms and Prospects for Agricultural Recovery After the Drought
1985
Economic problems and a severe drought negatively affected Sudan, a largely agricultural country. Prior to the drought, the Government enacted a series of policy reforms to improve agricultural productivity and increase exports, including adjustments in exchange rates, higher producer prices, institutional changes in the irrigated subsector, and reduction of consumer subsidies on wheat bread, petroleum products, and sugar. The structural diversity of Sudan's agricultural sector in terms of locus of decisionmaking, input and output price determination, and use of imported inputs, however, worked against across-the-board reform. The severity of the drought also blunted the effects of policy changes--reducing agricultural production, increasing food dependency on foreign suppliers, and causing massive population dislocation. After the drought, policy options remaining open to the Government focus on achieving higher export earnings and a greater degree of food self-sufficiency.
Food Security and Food Productivity in Sudan, 1970–95
African Development Review, 2000
Against the backdrop of a persistent food insecurity problem in Sudan which has prevailed since the mid 1970s, this paper makes use of the ordinary least squares (OLS) method of analysis to assess the performance of the national development strategies encapsulated in various medium‐term plans and programs between 1970/71 and 1992/93 with respect to achieving their objective of national self sufficiency in food production through both vertical and horizontal expansion in food production. An exponential function is used to estimate the trends in area, production, and productivity for three major staple crops, namely sorghum, wheat, and millet using annual time series data covering the period 1970–95. The results provide clear evidence that vertical expansion alone does not pay off in terms of output. Instead, policies should focus more on improving agricultural productivity via the introduction of new varieties and the application of technological packages. These policies must then be...
Workshop presentation
The World Food Programme (WFP) has organized a Food Aid Forum from 6-8 June 2006 in Khartoum, as part of an ongoing process to develop the longer-term strategy of WFP in Sudan. In support of the Forum, a series of Expert Opinion papers have been prepared by a wide range of partners on various aspects on food security strategies and their implications for WFP programmes in Sudan. In line with the objectives of the Forum, it is hoped that these papers will help inform a strategic framework offering direction to WFP Sudan through 2011 consistent with national priorities, and improve the understanding of the role and impact of WFP programmes in Sudan.
Farming System and Food Security in Western Sudan: Are the Things Improving?
OALib, 2015
This paper seeks to describe the farming system and food security as well as the activities against food insecurity in western Sudan. The secondary data on farming system and food security were collected from ministry of agriculture, ministry of health, WFP and FAO, as well as other relevant sources. Descriptive statistics analysis was used to analyze the data. The finding shows that the cultivated areas under cash crops are increased over the time compared with food crops. This is mainly resulted from some policy transformation and structure changes that seek to expand the area under cash crops. Alternatively, food security is influenced by low productivity and unclear marketing price policies for agricultural products as well as inequality and lack of income. Moreover, two programs were implemented to alleviate the food insecurity problems, namely, school feeding program (SFP) and food for work (FFW). However, the lack of food diversification and poor transportation are the negative factors affecting the stability of SFP. Consequently, adopting the improved technologies through strong and powerful research institutions and extension services will enhance the farming system and food security as well. Additionally, the SFP and FFW should provide diversified foods that are nutritional based rather than caloric based for the vulnerable people.
Agricultural Productivity and Poverty in Rural Sudan
2020
This volume is a product of the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of The World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. .
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2021
Sudan is situated in Sub-Saharan Africa, covering an area of about 1.9 million km 2 and has a population of 43 million. It is regarded as one of the countries in the world where human development is least advanced with a poverty rate of about 46%. Sudan's economy is based on agriculture, which contributes about one-third of the (GDP). Sudan's agriculture has three distinct crop and three distinct livestock production systems. The Crop production systems are: irrigated, traditional and mechanized rain-fed farming. The livestock production systems are: nomadic, transhumant and sedentary systems. The annual cultivated land is around 20 million hectares, more than 85% of which are rain-fed. The livestock population is estimated at 105 million heads concentrated in nomadic and transhumant production systems. Water resources in Sudan are: river Nile and its tributaries, seasonal streams, underground water and surface water. Sources of energy are: biomass; electricity (hydro and fossil fuels) and petroleum products, accounting for about 78,8% and 14%, respectively, of the total energy balance. Sudan has significant renewable energy resources. Particularly solar energy is well distributed all over the country thus having the potential to facilitate the provision of energy services to rural settlements. Sudanese land cover classes indicated that 51% of the country area is bare rocks and soil, agriculture land is 13%, and tree cover and herbaceous vegetation cover 36% of the total Sudan area. The annual crop cultivated area is around 20 million ha and the main crops occupying more than 90% of the cultivated area are sorghum, millet, wheat, sesame and groundnut. Rangelands are the backbone of the livelihood of pastoralists and agro-pastoralists producing annually about 73% of the total feed required for national herds. The forest area is about 22 million ha thus comprising three different classes: federal, state, and community/private forests. Sudan is one of the most seriously affected countries by desertification in Africa. Recent GIS and remote sensing results indicated that between 1958 and 2017 the desert boundary was moved more to the south pushing the country into a historical desertification disaster. Several attempts were made to formulate regulations and legislations to combat soil degradation and desertification. However, desertification in Sudan remains a major environmental threat. Sudan is among the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change, ranking 175 th out of 181 countries. Analyses of rainfall and temperature have demonstrated a high rainfall variability and a clear rise in maximum and minimum temperature. Key climate change impacts include: reduced crops and livestock productivity, reduction in the duration of the growing season and socioeconomic impact such as conflict over resources and migration to urban centres. Sudan has implemented several plans and policies which directly relate to climate change adaptation and development priorities. The focus of these plans and policies is: food security and raising productivity, reducing poverty and enhancing adaptation and resilience to climate change, protecting and developing natural resources, land tenure problems and strengthening governance and institutional capacity. These interventions had limited success in achieving their objectives. The main reasons are: a lack of political stability and fluctuating economic and financial policies as well as weak administrative and implementation capacity of the government institutions. The main lessons learnt are: agricultural-development programmes require increased and more effective public and private partnerships involving the main stakeholders. The low flow of finance to the agricultural sector remains one of the obstacles of agricultural growth. In addition to the poor rural infrastructure, the ongoing conflicts and social unrest in many parts of the country are strongly impacting the performance of the economy and constraining the development plans and policies.
Agrarian change in the central rainlands : Sudan
1987
I a m most grateful t o m y colleagues a t t h e Department of Social Anthropology and Sociology, University of Khartoum, Sudan for accommodating my leave of absence t o work on this book. The editing of t h e articles and t h e writing of my own a r t i c l e and t h e introduction was facilitated by t h e generous research g r a n t which I received f r o m t h e Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Uppsala, Sweden. I t a k e this opportunity t o express my gratitude t o all t h e staff of t h e Institute f o r their gracious help and cooperation which contributed considerably t o t h e completion of this work. My thanks also go t o all those who commented on t h e first d r a f t s of t h e articles f o r their suggestions and revisions. In t h e last stages of production I a m thankful t o Mrs. P.A. Palmer f o r typing t h e final d r a f t and t o Dr. Margaret Mohamed Salih for reading and correcting t h e proofs. All shortcomings a r e nonetheless m y sole responsibility. A special debt of gratitude is due t o Margaret, my wife, and our daughter Hyat, for their patience and encouragement during my long periods of absence.