Sudan’s harvest shock deepens hunger risk

Source publication: Reuters, 23 October 2026 at 08:00 UTC / 13:30 IST. Region: Sudan, with evidence from Darfur, Kordofan and Gedaref. Relevant SDGs: 1, 2, 3, 8, 13, 16 and 17.

Sudan faces a growing food-security risk as weak rainfall damages crops and livestock already disrupted by more than three years of conflict. Reuters reported that July–September rainfall, covering the main rainy season, was the country’s lowest in more than three decades, based on United States Geological Survey data.

Regional records show the uneven severity. Rainfall in North Darfur was the lowest since 1984, North Kordofan since 1990 and Gedaref since 1991. Farmers interviewed by Reuters reported shrivelled crops, reduced pasture and weaker livestock. One large commercial farmer in Gedaref expected only 25% of last year’s harvest, while another estimate in the Um Ruwaba area suggested that 40% of cultivated land could produce no harvest. These are farm-level estimates, not a completed national crop assessment.

The hunger figures also require distinction. Reuters cited 5.1 million people facing severe hunger in June. The World Food Programme forecasts that drought could add 350,000 people to severe hunger by the end of 2026 and 1.2 million by August 2027. Those two figures are projections shared with donors; they are not people already confirmed as newly food-insecure.

At the same time, humanitarian capacity is contracting. WFP had $276 million available for its Sudan operation on 17 October—less than half the previous year’s budget—and said it required another $134 million to address drought-related hunger. In Tawila, a Darfur displacement camp hosting about 700,000 people, food rations had been halved. Aid access remains constrained by insecurity and obstruction allegations denied by the conflict parties.

The evidence describes a convergence of observed rainfall and field conditions, an existing hunger burden, and forward projections. It does not constitute a new nationwide famine declaration, a completed harvest estimate or confirmed future outcome.

Primary source: Reuters — “New famine risk haunts war-torn Sudan with El Niño-driven drought”. Background analysis: Integrated Food Security Phase Classification — Sudan country analysis.