Torrential rains and floods combined with the historical overflow of the River Nile and its tributaries caused devastating damages to agriculture and livestock across the Sudan. In the rainfed agriculture sector, around 2 216 322 ha of the planted area was flooded, representing 26.8 percent of cultivated areas in the 15 assessed states.
The production loss due to the crop damage by floods is estimated at 1 044 942 tonnes in the rainfed areas. Sorghum -- which is the main staple food in the country -- constitutes about 50 percent of the damaged crops, followed by sesame at about 25 percent, then groundnut, millet and vegetables.
The extent of the damage to planted areas in the irrigated sector is estimated at 103 320 ha, which constitutes about 19.4 percent of the total cultivated area. The production loss is under estimation.
Gedarif is the most affected state in terms of damage to planted area with more than 1 067 721 ha of cultivated land washed away due to floods and a total loss of crops. Blue Nile is the second most affected state with 617 419 ha damaged, followed by Sennar and Kassala states with 112 579 ha and 109 048 ha respectively.
A total of 597 689 farming and pastoral households have been affected by the floods and heavy rains. This number includes 527 968 farming households in the rainfed areas; 49 200** farming households** in the irrigated sector; and 20 521 pastoral households.
The livestock sector was also severely impacted with the loss of more than 108 000 heads of livestock, particularly sheep, goats, poultry and cattle, belonging to about 20 521 households. North Darfur, Blue Nile and Sennar states registered the highest number of losses.
Damage to the forestry and fishery subsectors was also reported, particularly in Blue Nile, Sennar, Gezira and Gedarif states.
Horticulture, seeds, tools, equipment, machinery and agriculture and irrigation-related infrastructure were also either lost or damaged in the disaster. With additional damage to irrigation systems, many farmers risk missing the start of the upcoming 2020 winter and 2021 summer agriculture seasons, starting in October and March, respectively.
The replacement of agricultural inputs and tools, rehabilitation of irrigation schemes, as well as provision of support to livestock, fishery and forestry subsectors is crucial to ensure that affected populations can continue with their agricultural activities in the upcoming seasons. Cash-for-work programmes are considered critical to rehabilitate affected areas and allow for income-generation (e.g. restoring irrigation systems, repairing roads, rehabilitating small hafirs and shallow wells, removing debris from agricultural land, etc.).
