Sudan will need to import 3.5 million tons of wheat this year because of a 30% drop in the projected local harvest after farmers switched to planting different crops, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Wednesday.
Some farmers told Reuters the government had failed to buy their wheat on promised terms last year, leaving them reluctant or without the money to plant a new crop.
This year production of sorghum, a staple in Sudan, and of millet, is expected to recover, helped by favorable rains, the FAO said. Projected wheat imports will therefore account for nearly all Sudan's expected cereal import requirements of 3.6 million tons, it added.
"This will have a major impact on the food security of millions of Sudanese people, as international prices of wheat continue to increase and the country's national currency weakens," the agency said in a statement.
In 2022, Sudan imported 2.7 million tons of wheat and flour at a cost of $1.06 billion, with Russia, Australia, and Romania being the top import origins, according to central bank data.
Humanitarian agencies have warned of rising levels of hunger in Sudan, where more than one third of the population faced acute food insecurity last year.
"Communities are facing differing scales of vulnerabilities driven by soaring prices of staple crops, and the combined effects of economic downturn, high inflation, climate-induced hazards and conflict," the FAO statement quoted its Sudan representative Adam Yao as saying.
