FAO Official: Sudan’s Agricultural Strength Intact, But War Blocks Food Access

Sudan, once known as the “Arab world’s breadbasket,” is now facing a deepening humanitarian disaster driven entirely by conflict and restricted access to aid — not by a shortage of agricultural capacity, a senior UN official has warned.

Dr. Abdel Hakim Elwaer, Assistant Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said Sudan’s escalating food insecurity stems from violence that has cut off communities and blocked humanitarian operations, rather than any decline in the country’s ability to produce food.

“Sudan was once called the Arab food basket,” Elwaer said.  “The crisis today is not due to weak agricultural capacity or production. It is caused by conflict and the obstruction of humanitarian access.”

He pointed to the emergence of “famine hotspots” in conflict-stricken areas, particularly in El-Fasher, Kadugli, and several internally displaced persons (IDP) camps where residents have been denied access to food.

“It is not only the people who cannot reach food,” he said. “Humanitarian and UN organizations themselves have been unable to reach these areas to deliver life-saving assistance on time.”

Despite the challenges, Elwaer said FAO and its humanitarian partners are mounting “very significant efforts” to break through access constraints and deliver urgent aid to communities on the brink of starvation.

The scale of the crisis, he stressed, is enormous. “We are talking about a very large number of people. Unfortunately, the catastrophes in Gaza and Sudan are both man-made — not caused by natural conditions. There is no famine, no drought, no floods driving this alone. The major factor is the conflict.”

Elwaer added that FAO is working to urgently reach the most threatened locations with emergency support. “We are trying to access these famine-threatened areas as quickly as possible,” he said, noting that the organization continues to expand its operations on the ground.

Sudan’s civil conflict, now in its second year, has plunged millions into acute hunger and forced mass displacement, with aid agencies repeatedly warning of imminent famine if access does not improve.