Posted on March, 12, 2025 at 11:46 am
March 11, 2025 (PORT SUDAN) – Sudan’s grain production has surged by 63% in 2024, reaching 6.6 million tons, compared to the previous season, the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Abu Bakr al-Bushra, said on Tuesday.
Sudan requires between 5.5 and 6 million tons of grains to cover its food needs, with central regions relying on sorghum, northern regions on wheat, and western regions on millet.
“Sudan’s production of sorghum, sesame, millet, and wheat is estimated at 6.6 million tons,” Abu Bakr al-Bushra said at a press conference in Port Sudan.
He pointed out that this production is 63% higher than the previous year and 7% higher than the average grain production of the past five years.
Grains are typically planted during the rainy season in July and harvested at the end of the year and the beginning of the following year, with the exception of wheat, which is planted in the winter season and harvested in March and April.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated Sudan’s grain production in 2023 at about 4.1 million tons, a 46% decrease compared to 2022, when production reached 8 million tons.
The Minister of Agriculture reported that sorghum production, a staple food for most Sudanese people, is estimated at 5.4 million tons, a 77% increase compared to the previous year, while millet production is estimated at 793,000 tons, a 6% increase compared to last year.
Al-Bushra predicted that wheat production, which is harvested in March and April, would reach about 490,000 tons, a 30% increase compared to the previous year, when production reached 377,000 tons of wheat.
He pointed out that last year’s grain production was 4 million tons, while the average crop production in the five preceding years was about 6.2 million tons.
The minister explained that the needs of the Sudanese people for sorghum and millet amount to 4 million tons, including 122,000 tons used as seeds and 152,000 tons used as animal feed.
He attributed the increase in grain production this year to favourable climatic conditions, especially excellent rainfall rates, the use of certified seeds, the expansion of cultivated areas in the Nile River and Northern states, and limited pests.
About 80% of Sudan’s workforce is employed in the agriculture and livestock sector, which contributes 32.7% of the gross domestic product, which reached $34.3 billion at the end of 2021, according to World Bank estimates.
Source: Sudan Tribune