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By Talkafrica Correspondent
Nairobi — The African Development Bank Group (Bank Group) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) have signed a $87 million Boosting Agrifood Systems Resilience in Sudan Project, to strengthen food systems and provide critical support to farmers in areas central to the country’s food supply.
The four-year project, known as BOOST, is a collaboration between the Bank Group, WFP, and partners to help farming communities restore production, reduce post-harvest losses, improve incomes, and strengthen linkages to local markets. Launched on 22 May at a ceremony held at the Bank’s East Africa Regional Office in Nairobi, the project comes at a critical moment when more than 19 million people in Sudan are facing crisis levels of hunger or worse.
“During recent field visits across the country, farmers who already work with WFP in our resilience activities told me that they did not require food assistance even during the war,” said Abdallah Alwardat, WFP Sudan Country Director. “On the contrary, farmers supported by WFP have been able to preserve their agricultural schemes and even improve their yields of wheat and sorghum.”
BOOST will work in four locations in the rainfed farming areas of Sennar State and Blue Nile State. These regions have long been major crop producers, but their productivity remains marred by rudimentary farming practices and conflict disruptions, pushing many farmers towards subsistence-level activities.
“Investing in Sudan’s farmers is investing in the country’s recovery and long-term resilience,” said David Muthusi Mutuku, AfDB Country Manager for Sudan. “Through this partnership, the African Development Bank is supporting practical solutions that can contribute at scale to staple food production, strengthen rural economies and help communities withstand future shocks.”
BOOST will work with more than 230,000 farming households that are expected to produce nearly one million metric tons of cereals and pulses over the project’s duration. This is sufficient to meet the annual consumption needs of cereals for nearly nine million people and pulses for more than 15 million people. The project is delivered by WFP, in accordance with the Bank Group’s third party-implementing arrangements, in partnership with other UN entities and agricultural research institutions. It brings together each organisation’s technical strengths and mandates. Additional project components include organising farmer groups for training and agribusiness development.
BOOST builds on the successes of the ongoing Sudan Emergency Wheat Production Project, also implemented by WFP. Through projects like BOOST, partners support Sudan’s shift from short-term humanitarian assistance to supporting local food production in emergency conditions, maintaining strategic continuity and technical engagement in agricultural resilience and recovery.
The Bank Group and WFP have a growing partnership in Sudan, with nearly $267 million invested in Bank-financed, WFP-implemented resilience activities since 2023.
