Sudan's farmers are set to enjoy a bumper
cereal harvest this season, but they still face financial difficulties
because of falling crop prices, a joint report by the United Nations food
relief and agriculture arms has revealed.
The report also shows that about 3.6
million people across Sudan will need food assistance this year, despite
the improved harvest and favourable peace prospects in the country's south.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) issued their report today following a tour of Africa's largest country by a joint assessment team from October to December last year.
The assessment mission forecast that Sudan will have a cereal harvest of 6.3 million tons over the 2003-04 season, thanks mainly to healthy rainfalls and few outbreaks of pests or diseases. That is a 63 per cent jump on last season's production and is likely to result in a large surplus this year.
More than four fifths of the harvest will be sorghum, but the market price for that crop has begun to fall sharply and planting areas may have to be reduced next season.
The report warns that increasing conflict in Sudan's Darfur region has reduced the area of cultivated land there and displaced about 1.2 million people.
The violence in Darfur, in Sudan's west, comes as rebels in the country's south move closer to ending their long-running civil war with the Sudanese Government.
The WFP and FAO estimate that 249,000 tons of food aid are needed across Sudan to help people who lack access to food or were displaced by the civil unrest.