Goats And Grains Steer Rural Economy In Sudan

When times are good, it costs only one goat in northern Sudan to buy a bag of sorghum. But this year, villagers are bartering up to 17 goats for a 90-kg (198-pound) bag of the grain in Sudans rural Red Sea state markets, where livestock is still the currency.

In the Red Sea state, the coin of trade is goats, said Sasi Kumar, Oxfam U.K. country representative. ...Last year the rains failed, prices went up for fuel and there were barriers to transport. This added to a sharp increase in sorghum prices.

People have sold or given up most of their livestock and are almost destitute now, he said. The problem in Sudans Red Sea state is one example of how millions of people can go hungry in a country which is one of the worlds poorest but where surplus food is produced.

 

Fuel subsidy cuts, war, poor transport and drought have ganged up on access to staple grains in Sudan to threaten nearly a quarter of a million people with hunger and destitution in the state, one of 26 in Sudan.

Kumar said scarcity of food has driven thousands of people to state camps in Tokar, Sinkat and Suakin.

We found high malnutrition rates in children of up to 80 per cent, he said. I expect more and more movements of people.

United Nations agencies estimate Sudans production of sorghum, wheat, millet and maize will rise 50 percent to 5.33 million tonnes a surplus in the year from September 1996. Sorghum will account for 4.1 million tonnes, wheat 641,000 tonnes, millet 490,000 tonnes and maize 94,000, they say.

This means sorghum exports could be 600,000 tonnes in that period and wheat imports about 395,000 tonnes, less than in recent years because of the increased domestic crop, the World Food Programme/Food and Agriculture Organisation report said.

Thats the theory. But reality is not so simple in Africas largest country, where many people walk miles to fetch water, support families by herding livestock, and struggle to survive floods, sun-scorched fields and war.

The report said that sorghum exports depend on whether domestic production meets those levels and the government lifts an export ban. The wheat imports are composed of 321,000 tonnes for commercial use and 74,000 as food aid.

The overall food outlook for 1996-97 is therefore favourable, but at the levels of certain provinces and states the food supply situation is likely to be precarious, said the report, based on a visit ending in December.

Despite the overall surplus, the six states in Darfur and Kordofan, the Red Sea state and the south as a whole will all be in deficit, it said.