Al-LAOTA, Sudan: Looking at the sacks of wheat stacked in Imad Abdullah’s small home, no one would guess that Sudan’s food security is hanging by a thread after an October coup and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But the wheat farmer fears that the grain will soon rot, after his country’s cash-strapped government backed out of promises to purchase it at incentivising prices.
“It has been two months since I harvested the wheat and I can’t store it in the house anymore,” said Abdullah, pointing to the large sacks filled with ripened wheat crammed into his small house in Al-Laota, in Gezira state, south of Sudan’s capital.
He is one of the thousands of farmers who have cultivated the grain as part of Sudan’s largest agricultural scheme, named Al-Gezira.
When Abdullah harvested in March, he was promised 43,000 Sudanese pounds ($75) per sack — a price set by the government to encourage farmers to cultivate the grain.
“We used to sell the government our entire harvest. We never had to bring it home. We don’t even have adequate storage places.”
Sudanese officials have however declared in recent weeks that they will not be able to buy this season’s entire harvest due to lack of funds.
Impoverished Sudan has for years been grappling with a grinding economic crisis, which deepened after last year’s military coup prompted Western governments to cut crucial aid.
Over 18 million people, nearly half the Sudanese population, are expected to be…