KHARTOUM, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Sudan's grain production has reached 6.6 million tons during 2024-2025 summer season, marking the highest production rate in five years, Abu-Bakr Al-Bushra, Sudanese minister of Agriculture and Forestry, announced on Tuesday.
The figure "is 62 percent higher than last year, and 7 percent higher than the average in the past five years," exceeding Sudan's annual food requirements of 5.5-6 million tons, the minister said at a press conference in Port Sudan.
The minister specified that the production figures include maize, millet, and wheat, and noted that the crops were planted mid-last year and harvested between February and March of this year.
"The ministry is keen to expand agricultural activities, especially during the summer seasons, to ensure the availability of a strategic stock of grains that form the food source for the majority of the population," he added.
Despite the positive agricultural output, Sudan's agricultural sector, which contributes over 30 percent of the country's GDP, has been severely impacted by the ongoing conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Sudan's grain production for the 2023-2024 summer season stood at around 4.1 million tons.
According to the ministry, agricultural activities in areas controlled by the RSF in Gezira and Sinnar States were suspended during the last summer season due to the looting of agricultural machinery, seeds, and fertilizers, as well as security concerns, fuel shortages, and the high costs of agricultural operations amid rising unemployment.
Since mid-April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in a devastating conflict between the SAF and the RSF, which has claimed at least 29,683 lives, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, a crisis monitoring group cited by the United Nations.
The conflict has also displaced over 15 million people, both inside and outside Sudan, according to estimates by the International Organization for Migration.
