Farmers across several Sudanese agricultural regions told Reuters that escalating input costs are forcing them to scale back planting plans for key crops, including sorghum, millet, wheat and sesame, undermining production at a time when nearly half the population faces severe food shortages.

Sudan is particularly exposed to disruptions stemming from the regional conflict because it relies on Gulf countries for more than half of its fertilizer imports, according to United Nations data. The country has also become entirely dependent on imported fuel after more than three years of civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The crisis comes as Sudan remains one of the world’s most severe humanitarian emergencies. A UN-backed food security monitor estimates that about 19.5 million people, or more than 40% of the population, are experiencing crisis-level hunger, with some areas facing famine risks.

Sadig Elamin, senior food security analyst for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Sudan, said the regional conflict had compounded existing challenges facing the agricultural sector.

“The regional war has added salt to the wound,” Elamin said, warning that agricultural output could decline by at least 40% if current pressures persist.
Agriculture remains central to Sudan’s economy and livelihoods, with roughly two-thirds of the population dependent on farming. Despite vast agricultural potential that has attracted Gulf investment interest, decades of conflict, underinvestment and mismanagement have constrained productivity.

In the Jamuia agricultural scheme south of Omdurman, farmers had anticipated a recovery after RSF fighters were expelled from areas surrounding Khartoum last year. Instead, they now face fertilizer prices that have risen 67% from a year earlier, while diesel costs used to power irrigation pumps have more than doubled, according to national surveys.

“At that price we don’t make a profit, you spend your whole profit on the diesel,” farmer Bashir Ismail told Reuters.

Omar Al-Ebeid, secretary of the scheme’s farmers’ committee, said only 500 of the project’s 10,000 feddans, equivalent to about 4,200 hectares, had been planted midway through the season.

Farmers also criticized the army-aligned government for failing to provide sufficient support as state resources are increasingly directed toward the war effort.

Mohamed Balla, who heads a farmers’ collective in the Gezira scheme, once responsible for around half of Sudan’s sorghum and wheat production, said damaged infrastructure and rising costs were discouraging cultivation.

“The RSF left in February of last year. Nothing has been fixed since then,” Balla said.

He added that crop prices have remained largely unchanged despite soaring costs for agricultural inputs. “Two sacks of wheat buy you one sack of urea. So we won’t grow it again.”

National cereal production had already fallen by about 25% from pre-war averages, according to FAO estimates. Analysts warn further declines could intensify food shortages and increase reliance on humanitarian assistance.

Sudan’s Agricultural Bank, traditionally a major source of financing for farmers, has also struggled amid the conflict. Farmers say financing terms have become increasingly burdensome, pushing many producers into debt.

The bank’s leadership told Reuters it was seeking to ease pressure on farmers by offering inputs on more favorable repayment terms and extending financing periods.

Fatma Yousif, director of agricultural production at Sudan’s Agriculture Ministry, said authorities were coordinating with the bank to establish a financing fund and examining options to help farmers manage fuel costs. She said efforts were also underway to rehabilitate irrigation infrastructure damaged during the conflict.

In western Sudan, insecurity continues to hamper production in Kordofan and Darfur, regions critical for sesame, peanuts, millet and gum arabic exports.
“There is no funding for farmers, no machinery for planting and plowing the land, and no security because the RSF and other gangs loot the crops and demand money at every checkpoint,” said Mohamed Adam, a farmer displaced from West Kordofan to the army-held city of El Obeid.

Farmers in the region reported widespread looting of tractors and agricultural equipment, recruitment of farm laborers into armed groups, and mass displacement of rural communities, leaving large areas of farmland unprepared for the approaching rainy season.

Khalid Abdellatif, a director at agricultural supplier CTC Group, said transporting farming supplies into conflict-affected areas had become increasingly costly and dangerous, with small-scale farmers bearing the brunt of the disruption.

The warning came as Israeli authorities issued new displacement orders for 16 areas south of the Litani River, instructing residents to move toward the nearby city of Saida, adding further pressure on already strained communities and humanitarian operations.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said civilians continued to bear the brunt of the hostilities, with women and children disproportionately affected by displacement, overcrowded shelters and worsening living conditions.

He said reports indicated rising levels of psychological distress, family separation and increased risks of gender-based violence, particularly in temporary shelters where access to protection services remains limited.

“We and our partners are responding to the mounting needs where access allows,” Dujarric told reporters, while noting that humanitarian operations remain constrained by insecurity and restricted access in several affected areas.

A new joint analysis by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme found that a sharp escalation in violence had reversed earlier food-security improvements and pushed Lebanon back into a crisis phase.

According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification assessment, around 1.24 million people nearly one in four of those surveyed — are projected to face IPC Phase 3, or crisis-level, food insecurity or worse during the April-to-August period.

At that level, households are typically forced to adopt severe coping strategies such as skipping meals, reducing food quality or selling essential assets to afford basic supplies.

Lebanon has been grappling with overlapping economic, political and security crises for years, with inflation, currency collapse and weakened state institutions already undermining access to food and public services before the latest surge in violence.

Humanitarian agencies also warned that funding shortfalls were limiting relief efforts. The Lebanon Flash Appeal has received just over $117 million so far, only 38% of the $308 million required to meet urgent needs, according to U.N. figures.

Dujarric said that without immediate additional funding and improved humanitarian access, conditions were likely to deteriorate further, leaving more families exposed to hunger, displacement and prolonged hardship.

Zuwaira Hanafi stood outside a healthcare facility in Kaita, in Nigeria’s northern Katsina state, as medical staff hurried into a ward where her eight-month-old daughter lay semiconscious, underscoring the urgency confronting health workers in a region grappling with rising levels of severe malnutrition.

At the entrance, clinicians used colour-coded measuring tapes to assess the mid-upper arm circumference of children, a standard method for diagnosing malnutrition.

A steady flow of mothers, including teenagers, arrived with infants in critical condition, reflecting what humanitarian agencies describe as a deepening hunger crisis affecting large parts of the country.The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has warned that as many as 33 million Nigerians could face severe hunger in 2026, a record level.

Data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs indicates that approximately 6.4 million children in Nigeria are expected to be acutely malnourished by the end of the year, with the burden concentrated in northern regions such as Katsina.

Dr Soma Bahonan, head of the Nigeria mission for the Alliance for International Medical Action (Alima), which operates the Kaita facility in partnership with local authorities, said the crisis is expanding beyond children. Increasing numbers of mothers are also presenting with acute malnutrition, compounding the risks to infant health and survival.

Alima has expanded its operations to include mobile clinics designed to reach remote populations unable to travel to fixed facilities. These services include transport support for critical cases from surrounding communities.

However, Bahonan described the scale of need as exceeding operational capacity, particularly in Katsina, which has become a focal point of what aid workers describe as an intergenerational hunger crisis.Longstanding drivers of food insecurity, including climate variability and structural governance challenges, have been intensified by rising insecurity.

Attacks by jihadist groups and other non-state actors have disrupted farming activities and restricted access to agricultural land, further weakening household food production and income stability.The strain on the healthcare system is evident in workforce shortages. Nigeria’s doctor-to-patient ratio is estimated at roughly 1:9,000, significantly below the World Health Organization’s recommended ratio of 1:600.

Medical professionals continue to leave the country, citing delayed salary payments and limited career prospects, further reducing service capacity in already underserved areas.While digital health startups and private-sector partnerships have made progress in urban centres such as Lagos and Abuja, their reach remains limited in rural and conflict-affected regions due to infrastructure deficits and high inflation.

This uneven distribution of innovation has widened disparities in healthcare access.Analysts describe Nigeria’s current situation as a convergence of multiple crises. Joachim MacEbong, a senior analyst at Control Risks in Lagos, said the country faces overlapping economic, security, and human development challenges that reinforce one another.

He noted that these interconnected pressures are contributing to deteriorating health outcomes and weakening institutional response capacity.Humanitarian organisations have begun planning for the annual lean season, typically spanning June to September, when food stocks decline and malnutrition rates tend to rise.

The period is expected to place additional stress on already constrained health and nutrition services.Policy interventions have been introduced, though their impact remains uncertain.

In 2025, the Nigerian government partnered with the World Bank to implement the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria project, aimed at delivering basic nutrition services to vulnerable households.

A second phase of the programme is currently under way, but experts say broader structural reforms are required to improve food affordability and strengthen social protection systems.Supply chain inefficiencies continue to limit access to essential medicines and equipment.

Peter Bunor Jr, co-founder and head of growth at Field Intelligence, a health technology company focused on pharmaceutical logistics in Africa, said disruptions in global and domestic supply chains are contributing to shortages at the point of care.

Patients often travel long distances only to find that prescribed drugs are unavailable or replaced with alternatives, frequently at higher cost.Bunor said the impact of these shortages is amplified during a hunger crisis, as malnourished individuals are more susceptible to infections and require timely medical intervention.

He emphasised the need for better data integration and forecasting to prevent stockouts.In 2018, Field Intelligence launched the Nigeria Health Logistics Management Information System, a platform designed to track pharmaceutical supply data across public health programmes.

The system, now managed by the federal health ministry, has been expanded with support from UNICEF, and stakeholders are encouraging wider adoption among health agencies to improve coordination and anticipate shortages.Funding constraints remain a central concern.

Nigeria allocated approximately 5.2% of its 47.9 trillion naira national budget to the health sector, well below the 15% target set under the Abuja Declaration by African Union member states. Per capita health spending remains among the lowest on the continent.

In February, Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate disclosed that of the 218 billion naira allocated for operations and capital projects under the ministry, only 36 million naira had been released. The figure, representing a small fraction of the approved budget, has raised concerns about implementation capacity and fiscal prioritisation.

MacEbong said the funding gap illustrates broader structural challenges in public finance management, noting that limited budget execution undermines service delivery even where allocations exist. He added that the scale of the crisis requires sustained government attention, particularly in sectors directly linked to human capital development.

Aid organisations continue to call for increased domestic investment in health and nutrition, alongside improved coordination with international partners.

As conditions in northern Nigeria worsen, frontline health workers face mounting pressure to manage a growing caseload with limited resources, highlighting systemic vulnerabilities in one of Africa’s largest economies.