This terrible season of global conflict just hit a particularly grim milestone in Sudan with the one-year anniversary of the violent civil war last month. One consequence of the conflict is that Sudanese families are beginning to starve — and while emergency food aid is needed, so is investment in longer-term food production.
Political, economic, and social upheaval in the country has displaced over 8 million people and left nearly 25 million people in need of urgent food assistance, including more than 14 million children. The anniversary saw major donors mark the day with more than $2 billion in new aid pledges.
While these pledges are important, the international community also needs to rethink some of its aid strategies. Emergency food assistance for those at immediate risk of starvation is understandably a high priority now, but restoring food production within the country is just as important — otherwise donors risk racing from crisis to crisis and always falling short. It is time to break away from an aid-dependency model and invest directly in farmers.
About the authors
Sibongani Kayola
Sibongani Kayola is the country director of Mercy Corps Sudan, overseeing the delivery of high-impact, multi-sector programming with a range of projects interlinking the humanitarian, development, and peace sectors.
Bram Govaerts
Bram Govaerts is director general of CIMMYT and works for a successful transition of global agrifood systems. Govaerts received the 2014 Norman Borlaug Award from the World Food Prize. He is a fellow of The American Society of Agronomy and an A. D. White professor-at-large at Cornell University.
