Sudan is experiencing one of its worst modern food crises as conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which began in April 2023, has severely disrupted food production and distribution across the nation. The current humanitarian emergency, which has triggered famines in 2024 and 2025, differs fundamentally from previous crises in that it stems from armed conflict rather than environmental factors such as drought.
Historians trace Sudan’s recurring food catastrophes back centuries. A major famine occurred in 1684 during the Funj Sultanate, causing grain shortages, mass displacement, and disease outbreaks. Similar climate-driven crises were documented in 1750 and between 1835 and 1838 under Ottoman-Egyptian rule. The famine most deeply embedded in Sudanese collective memory took place between 1888 and 1889 under Khalifa Abdullahi al-Taashi, when drought, locusts, and conflict combined to create a crisis with estimated death tolls exceeding one million people. More recently, a severe drought in 1984 affected western Sudan including Darfur and Kordofan, displacing hundreds of thousands to urban centers.
Unlike those historical precedents, the present crisis is entirely man-made. War has disrupted agriculture, forced farmers from their lands, and obstructed the movement of food and humanitarian assistance. Social historian Abdullah al-Tijani emphasized that previous famines were typically confined to specific regions, while the current disaster has engulfed the entire country, affecting major urban and agricultural centers in Khartoum, Gezira, Sennar, Darfur, and Kordofan. He cited systematic destruction of infrastructure, targeting of markets and crops, banking disruptions, and restrictions on humanitarian access as key factors.
Sudan possesses substantial agricultural resources, including approximately 200 million acres of arable land and abundant water from the Nile, yet remains unable to fulfill its potential as a global food producer. Economic researcher Mohammed Abdul Rahman attributed the current food security crisis to development gaps and longstanding weaknesses in the agricultural sector, exacerbated by the conflict, displacement of farmers, absence of political stability, inadequate government support, and reliance on traditional farming methods.
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