After more than three years of war, a lull in fighting raised hopes that a good harvest would ease hunger in Sudan.
Instead, El Niño has delivered a damaging drought and, in some areas, led to the lowest rainfall since 1984, the year famine devastated Sudan and Ethiopia.
Across Sudan, farmers who have struggled to harvest their crops since a civil war flared in 2023 are now battling a new enemy that could plunge the nation back into famine: the weather.
El Niño, the climate pattern threatening parts of Africa with floods, is bringing higher temperatures and drought to Sudan, where pockets of famine have already emerged during more than three years of conflict, mainly in areas under siege.
Parched conditions are hurting crops and livestock across the southern region where rain-fed agriculture produces much of Sudan’s food, according to United Nations officials and aid experts, along with more than two dozen farmers interviewed by Reuters. One large-scale farmer expects his harvest to be a quarter of last year’s.
“The risk of famine is growing in many conflict-affected areas of Sudan, with the impact of El Niño-induced drought compounding already dire conditions,” the United Nations-backed Global Hunger Monitor, wrote in an October 12 alert.
–Reuters–
