Wheat planting in Sudan “declined drastically” says FAO

Wheat planted areas in Sudan have “declined drastically” in 1999/2000 because of the liberalisation of wheat production and the removal of Government support programmes to encourage production in the Gezira, Rahad and New Halfa irrigation schemes, says the FAO in a special report “Crop and Food Supply Situation in Sudan”. An FAO/Global Information Early Warning System visited Sudan from 19 to 30 May to estimate the outcome of the 2000 wheat harvest, and visited all major wheat producing areas in the country, including Gezira, New Halfa, Northern and River Nile states, as well as the major coarse grains producing and marketing areas, including Gedaref and North Kordofan. Government directives for farmers to commit a proportion of their land under wheat cultivation have been removed, prompting many farmers to drastically reduce wheat cultivation and switch to more lucrative cash crops, said the report. Area planted with wheat had subsequently decreased by some 32 percent. But the report noted that a combination of favourable weather conditions and a relatively low incidence of pest attacks “have resulted in a substantial increase in yields”. Wheat production as result was 20 percent above last year’s crop but about 60 percent below the previous five years average, warned the report. It said that the food supply situation “remains highly precarious in southern Sudan” mainly due to insecurity. Crop losses and population displacements have affected large numbers of people in so some areas of Kordofan, Darfur, Red Sea State and Kassala. It also warns that recent refugee influx into Sudan from the conflict between neighbouring Ethiopia and Eritrea has adversely affected the food supply situation in the border areas.