The ongoing war in Sudan has cast a shadow over the ability of Sudanese farmers to market their mango crop, and their inability to deliver the abundant crop to local markets due to the war conditions, despite their reliance on agriculture as a source of income.
Sudan ranks second among the countries with the largest mango production in the Arab region, with about 705.7 thousand tons annually, after Egypt, which produces more than one million tons annually.
A local newspaper published testimonies and complaints from farmers on Masawi Island, located in the north of the country, about the severe effects of the war on agriculture and the marketing of produce in the region.
One farmer said that the mango crop over the past two years was “very abundant,” but it is being spoiled despite the citizens’ need for this fruit in the cities of Kassala, Al-Qadarif, Madani, and most other state cities.
He added that the crop transportation crisis is a major obstacle to its arrival to the people, in addition to the difficulty of storage due to the absence of “coolers” in light of the electricity crisis, according to him.
He continued, “We depend in Al-Jazeera (State) mainly on agriculture due to the large cultivated areas,” noting that they have been relying on mangoes as a main source of income for about 9 years.
Another farmer complained about the losses they are suffering due to the recession, expressing his hope that the war will stop as soon as possible to revive agriculture.
Vegetation cover degradation
Meanwhile, a detailed analysis of satellite images conducted by Al Jazeera’s Sanad News Monitoring and Verification Agency showed a significant deterioration in vegetation cover in six of the largest farms in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, over the past four years.
The results of the Sentinel 2 satellite image analysis revealed a significant decrease in the Normalized Diffusion Vegetation Index (NDVI) in these farms, indicating a significant decline in the health and density of green spaces.
This deterioration is attributed to the ongoing armed conflict in Sudan since 2020, which has led to a significant decline in production.
The Director of the Emergency Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rein Paulsen, said that the threat of famine is looming over Sudan, and the main cereal planting season is only a few weeks away, while a large number of farmers are facing difficulty in accessing their lands.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have warned of the rapid deterioration in the conditions of the Sudanese people.
The heads of the three agencies revealed in a report issued in late June that more than 750,000 people in Sudan suffer from food insecurity, with 25.6 million people at hunger crisis levels.
