Sudan (the)

The Sudan 2020 Floods

Heavy rainfall since mid-July 2020 has caused severe flooding in the Sudan leading to displacement, destruction and death. Hundreds of thousands of people have since been affected in 17 out of the country’s 18 states, with numbers continuing to rise as floods continue. On 4 September, the Transitional Government of the Sudan declared a three-month national State of Emergency. More people have been affected by flooding in 2020 than in past years; and according to the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources, the Nile River has reached its highest levels in a century. Among the hardest hit are Blue Nile, Khartoum, River Nile, North Darfur and Sennar States, while serious damage has also been reported in the Gadarif, Gezira, South Darfur and West Kordofan regions. Thousands of homes have been destroyed or damaged and more than a thousand hectares of agricultural land has been wiped out in the middle of the harvest season. The flooding is exacerbating the already fragile situation as the country faces the COVID-19 pandemic, desert locusts, an economic crisis, as well as conflict and displacement. 

Vulnerable Situation

About 9.6 million people are facing crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 and above) in the Sudan (June¬–December 2020), an increase of 65 percent compared with the same period last year and the highest ever recorded by the IPC in the country. This increase in humanitarian needs comes after a year of civil unrest and socio-political change. Since the start of 2020, the population of the Sudan has faced numerous challenges including desert locust invasions, which may return and worsen as the current floods improve breeding conditions, and the COVID-19 pandemic that has contributed to the highest annual inflation rate in decades (111.23 percent in May 2020). 

Two-thirds of the population in the Sudan live in rural areas relying on small-scale agriculture to survive. With a local food basket occupying at least 75 percent of household income and the price of the basket increasing by 146 percent in April 2020, the already vulnerable population are increasingly unable to meet their basic needs. There remains almost 2 million internally displaced persons in the Sudan and an estimated 1.1 million refugees. The situation remains dire and further humanitarian assistance is needed urgently. 

 Responding to immediate needs

FAO in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture at Federal and State levels is currently undertaking an assessment on the damages caused by floods and waterlogging on crops and livestock in 11 states, namely Red Sea, Kassala, Gedarif, Sennar, Blue Nile, White Nile, West Kordofan, North Darfur, East Darfur, West Darfur, South Darfur. The findings of the assessment will inform short, medium and long-term interventions by the Government, FAO and other partners. 

As co-lead of the Food Security and Livelihoods Cluster, FAO is working with partners to provide and improve the availability of, and accessibility to, sufficient, quality and nutritious food to enhance the resilience of vulnerable people impacted by protracted crisis and suffering from food insecurity. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, FAO in the Sudan has updated its Humanitarian Response Plan for 2020 and adapted its humanitarian and resilience programming to ensure the continued delivery of assistance. It has continued to provide agricultural and livestock inputs and animal health support with the aim of ensuring that smallholder farmers and pastoralists are able to maintain their production and livelihood activities. In order to achieve this goal, FAO has requested USD 47.14 million under the framework of the 2020 Humanitarian Response Plan and the Sudan Chapter of the Global COVID-19 Response Plan. Further assistance is needed to respond to the ongoing flood emergency. 

Moving from response to recovery

FAO in the Sudan is helping vulnerable rural communities, including herding, fishing and farming families, IDPs and returnees, to regain their livelihoods and strengthen their food security. Emphasis is placed on durable solutions and strengthening local systems as a means of reducing aid dependency and facilitating early recovery, as well as improving preparedness on the ground.