Survey of Farmer Capacities and Intentions in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, Sudan

With funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Mercy Corps conducted a survey of 1,397 smallholder farmers in South Kordofan (SKS) and Blue Nile (BNS), Sudan, in June and July 2023 in order to understand the impact of the current conflict on farmers’ intentions for the 2023 planting season, which started in July (see map for specific locations). While this survey focused on two states in southern Sudan, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) will conduct a larger survey of the rest of Sudan in August 2023 and produce a countrywide report utilizing both data sets.

In summary, the 2023 rains have been good in South Kordofan and Blue Nile and, at the beginning of the planting period, 90% of respondents had either started preparing their fields or intended to plant. The main crops planned were sorghum, millet, or maize. Lack of funds was cited as the primary reason farmers had not started to plant, intended to plant less, or will not plant at all. However, 31% of farmers who do not intend to plant cited the conflict as the reason. The majority of farmers intend to use local seed varieties from informal sources.