Red Cross distributes seed, food to 18,000 families in Central Darfur’s Jebel Marra

Fourteen thousand families in Jebel Marra’s Rokoro and 4,000 in Golo are receiving seed and food assistance from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The Sudanese Red Crescent Society (SRCS) joined the ICRC in the assessment and registration of beneficiaries and in the distribution of the seed, the ICRC said in a press release on Sunday.

“The distribution will enable supported families to plant crops in advance of the rainy season so that they have food to harvest later in the year to consume and sell,” said ICRC agronomist Joseph Dome.

“We are also providing interim food assistance to help bridge the gap through the lean season and ensure that the seeds are planted, rather than eaten, because people have limited alternative sources of food.”

The distribution is targeting the most vulnerable, returnees, and residents in 100 villages in Rokoro and 82 villages in the Golo area. Each family receives groundnut, sorghum and an assortment of vegetable seed. They also get a one-month food ration of sorghum, broad-beans, oil, sugar and salt.

In March this year, ICRC teams carried out assistance distribution in Golo after being granted access by the Sudanese government to resume its humanitarian field activities. The distribution was the first carried out by ICRC in Golo in more than ten years.

The Sudanese authorities suspended Red Cross activities in the country in February 2014, citing technical issues, and asked the organisation to review the country agreement that sets out its legal and diplomatic status in the country. About seven months later, Khartoum lifted the suspension.