International support to enhance food security in Sudan

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 29 August, to promote food security through improvement of agricultural production among smallholder farmers in Sudan.

Through this agreement, the two agencies will work to enhance the quality of and access to agricultural resources for smallholder farmers. This includes providing them with improved seeds, training on agricultural credit systems and on methods to reduce post-harvest losses.

Both agencies will also work to improve availability of market services for produce. Following the signing of the MoU, coordination meetings will take place to develop the work, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported in its latest weekly bulletin.

According to WFP’s July update, Sudan is classified as a least-developed and low-income food-deficit country, with more than four million people facing crisis levels of food insecurity. The country’s global acute malnutrition rate is 16.3 percent, according to the 2013 national nutrition survey.

About 4.6 million people are targeted for assistance under the 2016 Sudan HRP. WFP reported that by the end of July, 2.5 million people in the country had received food assistance this year.