Millions in Sudan are surviving on a single meal each day.
How bad it has become
The picture on the ground is stark. After nearly three years of fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, households in the hardest-hit areas are stretching tiny food rations to the limit. Communal kitchens that once offered a modest safety net are running out of supplies and struggling to feed the people who rely on them.
A coalition of aid groups — including Action Against Hunger, CARE International, the International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps, and the Norwegian Refugee Council — reports that Sudan's food system is breaking down field by field and market by market. And it says the situation has pushed many families into eating leaves or animal feed just to survive.
The document draws on interviews with farmers, traders and humanitarian workers inside Sudan, and paints a picture of supply chains fractured by violence and displacement. Crops can’t be planted or harvested on schedule. Markets are unreliable. Roads that once moved food around the country have been damaged or closed.
In North Darfur and South Kordofan, the report finds that millions of people are effectively down to one meal a day and, in some cases, missing meals entirely for days at a time.
Numbers that don't lie
The humanitarian scale is enormous. The United Nations estimates that more than 12 million people have been forced from their homes since the conflict began in April 2023. More than 33 million people now need some form of humanitarian assistance.
In stark terms, about 61.7% of Sudan's population — roughly 28.9 million people — face acute food shortages, according to the 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan. The UN has recorded over 40,000 deaths linked to the conflict, though aid agencies warn the real toll could be considerably higher.
The global hunger monitor earlier this year confirmed famine conditions in el-Fasher and Kadugli. And the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification found famine-level rates of acute malnutrition in places such as Um Baru and Kernoi, where child malnutrition soared past emergency thresholds.
Why the crisis has widened
The fighting is the immediate cause — but it's not the only factor. The NGOs stress that the conflict's siege tactics, mass displacement and repeated attacks on agricultural infrastructure have systematically weakened the country's capacity to produce and deliver food.
The economy and climate are also making things harder for people. Sudan's economy has been hammered: currencies have fluctuated, inflation has soared and households have lost livelihoods. At the same time, drought and erratic rains have cut harvests in some regions, making households more dependent on markets that are no longer functioning.
All of these shocks collide. The result is predictable cruelty: families sell assets, skip meals, and pull children out of school so they can work or reduce household expenses. Communal coping mechanisms that used to cushion shocks have been overwhelmed.
Humanitarian access and the politics of aid
Humanitarian agencies say they face serious obstacles reaching people in need. Aid convoys have been delayed or blocked by fighting. Security risks make operations unpredictable. Where organisations can get through, supplies are thin and demand is vast.
The Sudanese government, aligned with the army, denies that famine exists in areas it controls. The Rapid Support Forces also reject responsibility for the conditions reported in regions under their influence. Those denials complicate negotiations over safe access and protection for civilians.
International actors warn that aid alone can't fix a man-made crisis of this scale. Without a ceasefire or a negotiated settlement that guarantees humanitarian corridors and the protection of agricultural areas, the food emergency risks tipping into broader famine across more regions.
Regional and global ripple effects
The collapse of food production in Sudan has consequences beyond that country's borders. Sudan was a food supplier for some neighbouring markets; disruptions to harvests and trade routes push up food prices in the wider region. That threatens to deepen instability in countries already coping with fragile governance and volatile commodity markets.
At the global level, the crisis feeds into a broader pattern of food insecurity driven by conflict, climate shocks and economic stress. Donor budgets are finite. When one crisis grows, resources get stretched across competing emergencies worldwide.
What it means for the UK
The humanitarian emergency in Sudan poses practical and political questions for policymakers in London. The UK hosts a Sudanese diaspora that has been active in advocacy and fundraising; pressure from community groups and churches is likely to intensify as images and testimony filter out of the country.
There are also tough budget decisions to make. British ministers will be asked to decide whether to increase bilateral or multilateral assistance, or to provide logistical and diplomatic support to efforts pushing for greater aid access. Any shift in UK policy will have to balance domestic fiscal pressures with international legal and moral obligations.
The UK and other governments can act now by pushing for humanitarian corridors, supporting UN and NGO calls for safe passage and resources, and helping protect civilians and farms where they can.
Voices from the field and what aid agencies say
Rather than naming individuals, the NGOs' joint report relays testimony from farmers and traders who describe seeds and tools being lost, livestock dying or being looted, and markets emptying. Humanitarian staff report that communal kitchens and food distributions are being stretched to breaking point.
Action Against Hunger, CARE International, the International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps and the Norwegian Refugee Council all call for immediate humanitarian scale‑up, safer access and sustained funding. They warn that without such steps, the crisis will deepen and more communities will slide from acute food insecurity towards famine.
Donors, however, are juggling competing demands. Funds for relief are already running thin in several major crises worldwide, and operational challenges in Sudan raise the cost and complexity of delivering help. That forces agencies into hard choices over where and how to allocate scarce resources.
What happens next
For now, the picture is bleak. The damage to the agricultural calendar — missed planting and harvest windows, seed losses, and restricted movement — will have effects that last beyond the immediate months. Rebuilding food systems will take seasons, not weeks.
The NGOs argue that without a negotiated end to hostilities and reliable humanitarian access, the people trapped in the hardest-hit parts of Sudan face increasingly desperate choices. International pressure and funding can blunt the worst outcomes, but only if aid reaches the places most in need.
There is a clear and urgent question for policy-makers, donors and military leaders alike: can they open the space for aid actors to work before a catastrophe becomes even more widespread?
Related Articles
- Gulf attacks on fertiliser plants threaten global food supplies — and Britain could feel the squeeze
About 61.7% of Sudan’s population — roughly 28.9 million people — are facing acute food shortages, according to the 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan.
This article was created with AI assistance.
