Below-average rainfall delays main season planting across most of Sudan
Key Messages
Cumulative seasonal rainfall has been below-average across most of Sudan’s main agricultural production areas with May to July rainfall totals ranging between 25 and 50 percent of normal in some areas. Poor rainfall performance has delayed planting in many rainfed cropping zones and vegetation conditions are currently below-average across much of the Darfur region, in the eastern surplus-producing areas of Sinar, Gadaref, and Kassala states, and in localized areas of North and South Kordorfan.
The IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC) and the Sudan Meteorological Authorities (SMA) forecast average to below-average rainfall through September across Sudan, particularly in the main rainfed surplus production areas of Kassala, Gadaref, SInar, Blue Nile, White Nile, Gazeira, and Khartoum, and normal to above-normal rains in Darfur and Kordofan, the second most important rainfed production region in Sudan.
Levels of acute food insecurity have decreased this year compared to last year due to the effects of 2014/15 surplus production on food availability, market supply, and prices. Food security is expected to deteriorate from August to September as the lean season peaks, and improve from October to December as harvests increase food availability.