Fighting across Kordofan’s three states has severely disrupted rain-fed farming, which was due to begin in May, when frontlines shifted from Khartoum and White Nile into the region, halting planting in key areas.
The disruption has jeopardised household incomes and raised fears of a wider food crisis, pushing many families into debt and deepening food insecurity.
When farmers were preparing to plant, the RSF attacked, seized An-Nuhud, and swept through dozens of villages whose residents are the backbone of cultivation.
Ahmed Abdel Nabi, farmer from An-Nuhud
Rain-fed cultivation has stopped in crucial zones such as West Kordofan, long a major producer of sorghum, watermelon seeds, groundnuts and hibiscus. Thousands of farmers in An-Nuhud, Al-Khuway, Gubaysh, Abu Zabad, Al-Fulah and Babanusa have ceased farming, with Babanusa entirely emptied. Local markets have thinned, agricultural labourers remain idle, and the planting window is rapidly closing.
In vital parts of South Kordofan, notably Al-Goz and Al-Hammadi counties, farmers will end the season with no returns following clashes between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)’s Sayyad mobile unit. In May, the SAF reached Al-Dibiabat and pushed out the RSF, only for the paramilitary to later retake Al-Dibiabat, Al-Hammadi and Kazqil — areas essential for grazing and cultivation. These shifts repeatedly disrupted planting schedules, undermining farmers’ attempts at recovery.
Ahmed Abdel Nabi, a farmer from An-Nuhud, described the season as a total failure in one of Sudan’s top producing states. He told Atar: “When farmers were preparing to plant, the RSF attacked, seized An-Nuhud, and swept through dozens of villages whose residents are the backbone of cultivation.”
Following the RSF assault, most farmers fled towards Al-Obeid and comparatively safer districts. With the RSF tightening its grip, displaced farmers were reluctant to return. Seeds and crops stored by traders and farmers were systematically looted, leaving many unwilling to resume farming for fear of renewed insecurity, Abdel Nabi said.
We fought hard not to abandon the season and managed to plant sizeable plots at great expense—but prices are not even half the cost of planting and harvesting.
Ibrahim Abdullah, farmer from An-Nuhud
Despite instability and widespread looting, some farmers in West Kordofan were forced to cultivate their land. They struggled to secure fuel for planting and harvesting, paid high operational costs, and were then hit by a sharp drop in crop prices, said Ibrahim Abdullah, also a farmer from An-Nuhud. He told Atar: “We fought hard not to abandon the season and managed to plant sizeable plots at great expense. Although they produced a substantial yield, prices are not even half the cost of planting and harvesting.”
Ibrahim added: “The cost to plant a single mukhammas exceeded 250,000 pounds. Today a quintal of sesame sells for about 70,000 to 80,000 pounds, and a quintal of cowpeas about 50,000 pounds. With the currency gap and the pound’s slide against the dollar, output is now worth less than a quarter of its cost.” He continued: “Despite low sesame and cowpea prices, there are no buyers. The area is under RSF control, there are no banks, and no companies have entered. Traders will not risk their money because it can be looted amid the security breakdown that has gripped the region since May.”
A farmer from Al-Dibiabat in South Kordofan, an area known for corn and cowpea cultivation, described this year’s events as “a catastrophe.” He told Atar that farmers in Al-Goz locality, which administers Al-Dibiabat, failed to plant for a third season. In 2023, the damage was less severe because the RSF controlled only the town and large-scale looting in villages and countryside did not occur; 2024 was similar.
This year, however, renewed military activity — including the arrival of the SAF’s Sayyad mobile unit, the RSF’s expulsion and return, and the SAF’s pullback to Al-Obeid’s outskirts — caused a dramatic reversal in security. Farmers were deliberately displaced, seed stocks destroyed, and production zones wiped out. As a result, no farmer could cultivate, halting agriculture across broad swathes that once yielded plentiful harvests, and leaving fields idle for the first time in many years.
The same situation applies to extensive areas of North Kordofan around Al-Rahad. Despite heavy rains, farmers were unable to capitalise on them due to insecurity; most planted only small plots for household consumption.
A farmer from Al-Rahad told Atar that military operations, alternating control by warring parties, and the resulting instability and lawlessness had forced many farmers to abandon planting for fear of attack, killings and looting. “A farmer cannot work in an area without security where looting and theft have been rampant in an indescribable way for more than two years,” he said.
Conditions in eastern North Kordofan are calmer and relatively safer, but farmers there still faced high production costs due to expensive seed, fuel and land preparation. Ahmed Abdelbagi, a farmer on the outskirts of Um Ruwaba, said: “We planted at very high cost: a malwa of cowpeas cost 17,000 pounds; cleaning one mukhammas and sowing seed cost 50,000 pounds; a second cleaning, the ‘ginkab’, 80,000 pounds; and harvesting 50,000 pounds. Today a quintal of cowpeas is 100,000 pounds and sesame 100,000 pounds, noting that one mukhammas is planted with ten malwa of cowpeas.”
Farmers were forced to sell at these low prices merely to recoup some losses. The state failed to attract buyers and prevent further harm.
Ahmed Abdelbagi, farmer near Um Ruwaba
Ahmed added that factoring in currency depreciation, farmers lose roughly half of their production outlay because no companies are buying the crop and the state has not intervened. “Farmers were forced to sell at these low prices merely to recoup some losses,” he said. He described prices of less than $25 per quintal for sesame or cowpeas as unacceptable — not just unprofitable but a clear loss for farmers who spent their savings only to face heavy losses. He blamed the state for failing to attract buyers to prevent further financial harm.
Beyond Kordofan’s battle zones, areas bordering North Kordofan but administratively part of the White Nile also felt the impact. For the first time this season, no major companies or large capital entered the Tandalti crop market, adjacent to North Kordofan. A local trader told Atar that merchants have no export outlets; they are buying crops at low prices and warehousing them in the hope prices will rebound.
Traders expect prices to fall further as the pound continues to slide against the dollar. In three months, it fell from 2,800 pounds to 3,700 per dollar, a decline that could inflict heavy losses on merchants.
Another Tandalti trader said wealthier farmers are selling to traders on deferred terms: the farmer weighs the crop for the buyer and they agree to settle later, hoping prices will rise — a risky strategy for growers.
In addition to currency depreciation, markets have been affected by recent military events in Kordofan. Several traders in North Kordofan told Atar that with the RSF threatening to reach Al-Obeid and the White Nile, demand for crops has fallen sharply.
