Sudan, September 4, 2025 – CARE’s new research brief, Conflict, Agriculture, and Women in Sudan, finds that the crisis facing Sudan’s farmers is becoming even more severe. The survey of 492 farmers in East Darfur, South Darfur, and South Kordofan found that 89% reported declines in productivity and 56% could not safely harvest their crops due to violence and insecurity. This data starkly reveals that the ongoing conflict has devastated farming communities and accelerated Sudan’s food insecurity crisis, with women smallholder farmers facing the greatest burdens.
Despite this, interventions to reach farmers remain vastly underfunded: as of September, only 31% of the 15 million people targeted for agricultural support in 2025 have received assistance. Moreover, the level of gender-responsive agricultural interventions or the number of women reached is not reported or tracked.
“Sudan’s farmers are holding on against impossible odds,” said Abdirahman Ali, CARE Sudan Country Director. “Women, in particular, are keeping families fed despite violence, shortages, and systemic inequality. This report shows the urgency of action needed as Sudan faces the collapse of its food systems and a preventable surge in hunger and displacement.”
Since April 2023, the conflict in Sudan has caused horrific death, displacement, and destruction. Over 50,000 people have been killed, and crimes against humanity have been inflicted on civilians. Almost 12 million people have been displaced – making it the world’s largest displacement crisis – and incalculable damage has been done to infrastructure, hospitals, homes, and buildings. Famine is already a reality in over 17 areas, including in Darfur, and hunger is spreading fast. Fear of attacks, looting, and displacement has forced many to abandon their fields, leading to dramatic reductions in cultivated land. Before the conflict, about 21% of farmers worked on plots smaller than one feddan (≈1 acre); today, that figure has doubled to 41%.
CARE’s research confirms that Sudanese women farmers face the steepest financial challenges, in addition to the threat of systematic conflict-related sexual violence. With men migrating, displaced, or unable to farm, 87% of respondents were women. At the same time, 88% of all respondents reported that lack of financial resources and high agricultural input costs were major barriers to women’s ability to farm. And for those who manage to plant, the challenges continue: 76% reported post-harvest losses caused by theft, looting, spoilage, or the absence of safe storage facilities.
Markets are also collapsing. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of farmers reported experiencing disruptions in accessing markets, while 17.5% had no access at all. Rising transport costs, driven by fuel shortages, insecurity, and damaged infrastructure, have worsened the situation, with 81% reporting unstable market prices and 58% citing prohibitive costs for seeds and fertilizer.
“In Kass, farming is purely for survival,” said *Fatima, a farmer interviewed during this research project. “People grow just enough corn, peanuts, and vegetables to feed their families—there’s no market activity. It’s all about putting food on the table, nothing more.”
The impacts at the household level are stark. More than 80% of respondents said food availability in their communities was low to very low, even though the survey was conducted during the post-harvest season, when food should be most abundant. Women, who already eat last and least in many households, reported reducing the variety of foods they consume, highlighting both the gendered impacts of the crisis and the dangerous coping strategies families are being forced to adopt.
“As famine conditions spread, the time to act is now,” added Abdirahman Ali. “Supporting Sudan’s farmers — especially women — is not just about food, it is about survival. If the world fails to step in with funding and protection, there is no end to the suffering we will witness.”
CARE urges the international community to consider agriculture as life-saving assistance and urgently provide quality funding to strengthen Sudan’s food systems while targeting support to women farmers. This means investing in seeds, tools, irrigation, storage facilities, and safe transport routes, while directly funding women’s farming groups as leaders and decision-makers. Assisting women with access to finance, markets, and training will not only sustain families but also stabilize communities and food systems. All interventions must address the disproportionate impacts of the crisis on women and their urgent protection needs.
Parties must adhere to international humanitarian law, including not using starvation as a weapon of war and siege, preventing the destruction of crops and looting of agricultural production and equipment, and not directly targeting or carrying out indiscriminate attacks that impact civilian areas like markets. Civilians, including farmers, must be protected and allowed to work safely and rebuild their livelihoods with dignity.
For media inquiries, please email usa.media@care.org or contact David Mutua, CARE East Central, & Southern Africa Regional Communication Advisor via: david.mutua@care.org