There is a wheat and bread crisis in Sudan. Despite this, sacks of wheat are piling up in the home of Sudanese farmer Imad Abdullah, due to the economic difficulties experienced by the Sudanese government, which usually buys its crop annually.
Abdullah finished harvesting in March and was promised 43,000 Sudanese pounds ($75) for a 100-kilogram bag, a stimulus price set by the government for farmers to encourage them to grow wheat.
But the sacks of wheat did not come out of his small house, located next to his field in Al Luot in Al Jazeera state, south of Khartoum.
“It’s been two months since I harvested and I can no longer store it at home,” Abdullah, 45, told AFP.
He adds: “We used to give the government our entire harvest and we never had to bring it home, especially since we don’t have warehouses ready to store it.”
Abdullah shares his plight with the thousands of Sudanese farmers who grow wheat as part of the Gezira agricultural project, which is Sudan’s largest. For decades, the project has contributed to covering part of Sudan’s total wheat demand, which is 2.2 million tons per year. .
But this year, the Sudanese authorities were unable to buy all the wheat, and farmers had to do their best to clear their warehouses.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February and its impact on grain and fuel prices, a food crisis has loomed in the world, especially in countries that rely mainly on the two conflicting countries for their imports.
Earlier this month, Sudan’s finance ministry said it intended to build a strategic wheat reserve of 300,000 tons.
However, a spokesman for the Jazira State Agricultural Bank, who requested anonymity, told AFP: “The bank has no money to buy wheat (this year).”
“Farmers are asking the government to buy wheat and if it doesn’t respond, they won’t grow it anymore,” said Omar Marzouk, manager of the Gezira project.
