Attachments
Key points
• Since July 2020, torrential rains and flooding combined with the historical overflow of the River Nile and its tributaries have aected 17 states out of 18 in the Sudan. Among the hardest hit are Blue Nile, Khartoum,
North Darfur, River Nile, and Sennar States, while serious damage has also been reported in the Gadarif,
Gezira, South Darfur and West Kordofan regions. In addition to taking place in the middle of the main agricultural season, these floods are the worst seen in decades.
• The flooding is exacerbating the already fragile situation as the country faces the COVID-19 pandemic, desert locust invasion, an economic crisis, as well as civil unrest and displacement.
• On 4 September 2020, the Transitional Government of the Sudan declared a three-month State of Emergency and established a supreme committee led by the Ministry of Labour and Social Development to respond to the flood emergency.
• FAO in the Sudan jointly with the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Ministries of Production and Economic Resources conducted a rapid assessment in mid-September to document the impact of the floods on farming and pastoral communities.
• Preliminary results of the assessment estimate that the floods have aected 597 689 farming and pastoral households (2 988 445 people), of whom 39 percent are female-headed, and resulted in the flooding of about 2.2 million ha of land and loss of 108 000 heads of livestock, belonging to 20 251 households. In addition to limiting movement and access to farms and agricultural inputs, the floods have also led to the loss of fishing gear and destruction of aquaculture farms; loss of agricultural inputs, tools and pumps; and destruction of agriculture and livestock service facilities.
• Aected farmers have already begun to adopt negative coping mechanisms including borrowing and selling productive assets to access food and ensure they have seeds for the upcoming agricultural seasons.
• So far, about 22 percent of aected localities have received assistance from the Government, humanitarian actors and non-governmental organizations. Further assistance is needed urgently and additional funds are required to maintain livelihood interventions and provide necessary emergency and recovery support.