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Publication | 2024

Food Security and Social Assistance in Sudan During Armed Conflict: Evidence from the first round of the Sudan Rural Household Survey (November 2023–January 2024)

The conflict in Sudan has severely impacted the food security landscape in rural areas, with profound implications for household diets, coping strategies, and overall food insecurity levels. Data from a national rural household phone survey conducted between October 2023 and January 2024 highlights the dire food consumption patterns, the prevalence of food insecurity, and the reliance on reduced coping strategies among the rural population of Sudan. 

As of the end of 2023, nearly 40 percent of rural households were consuming inadequate diets, with West Kordofan, South Kordofan, North Darfur, East Darfur, and Sennar states experiencing the highest prevalence of poor food consumption (34, 33, 29 and 24 percent, respectively). The primary components of diets were cereals and oils, with nutrient-rich foods, such as meats and fruits, consumed less frequently, highlighting a critical gap in nutritional adequacy.

The situation has resulted in households across Sudan resorting to a range of coping strategies to try to meet their food needs, such as buying less preferred or less expensive food (on average 4 days out of 7), limiting portion sizes, or reducing the number of daily meals. The five coping mechanisms that were examined in the analysis were found to be implemented with approximately similar frequencies across rural Sudan. However, the situation was particularly dire in West Darfur, South Kordofan, and Khartoum, the states recording the highest prevalence of consumption of inadequate diets and the highest reduced Coping Strategy Index (rCSI) scores.

Fifty-six percent of rural households in Sudan were severely food insecure at the time of the survey, based on the Household Food Insecurity Experience Scale. The highest incidences of food insecure households were reported in West Kordofan, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile. Most households reported that they only had sufficient resources (savings and stocks) to meet their immediate food needs for less than one week. The highest prevalences of households with limited savings and stocks to meet their food needs were recorded in states in Darfur, followed by Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

Food emerges as the primary concern for approximately 60 percent of households across rural Sudan. Households in the states in the Darfur and Kordofan regions were the most likely to highlight food as their primary concern. The second most reported need was security. This need was commonly reported by households in Khartoum, North Darfur, and West Kordofan, all areas affected significantly by active conflict. There was also a widespread concern about access to healthcare—11 percent of households reported it as their most important need.

Even before the conflict, many Sudanese were acutely food insecure, and the World Food Programme (WFP) was a significant part of the humanitarian assistance they received. However, the ongoing conflict is significantly affecting WFP’s ability to deliver humanitarian assistance, impacting those households who rely on it. Of those who were receiving WFP assistance before the conflict, most reported that assistance had since been disrupted. Notably, 95 percent of households in North Darfur reported a drop in the assistance they are receiving. Insecurity and conflict prevented WFP from reaching beneficiary households in North Darfur at the time of the survey.

Both parties to the conflict in Sudan must allow for access to humanitarian assistance across all areas of Sudan to ensure that the already severe food insecurity affecting rural households does not deteriorate further. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) assessment for Sudan of March 2024 warned that catastrophic outcomes are possible in areas particularly affected by the conflict where there is no or little humanitarian access. WFP and other organizations play a pivotal role in helping rural households across Sudan meet their food needs through humanitarian assistance. However, the findings from the survey clearly show that a more comprehensive approach to addressing both the immediate and underlying factors contributing to food insecurity in Sudan is required. The situation necessitates enhanced collaborative efforts to not only meet immediate food needs but also to tackle the broader challenges posed by the conflict, aiming to improve the resilience and overall well-being of the affected communities.