The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has launched a large-scale emergency seed distribution campaign, targeting 1.5 million farming families – about 7.5 million people – in 17 of Sudan’s 18 states. The 2025 campaign began in West Darfur, where more than 750,000 people – more than half the population – face critical or worse levels of hunger due to conflict and food insecurity.

FAO is urgently providing sorghum, millet, chickpea and pigeon pea seeds to help families plant ahead of the main growing season in 2025. With the support of the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), Switzerland, the Qatar Fund for Development through Education Above All and the European Union, this campaign complements FAO’s broader emergency response in the agriculture and livestock sectors.

"Planting seeds means growing the hope of food. This is not just a food crisis, it is a race against time to save lives," said QU Dongyu , Director-General of FAO. "We must act quickly and decisively so that those most in need can quickly produce the food they need to survive."

The humanitarian crisis in Sudan has reached catastrophic levels. According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, released in December 2024, half the population – 24.6 million people – are facing high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or higher). Famine (IPC Phase 5) has been declared in five areas by the IPC Famine Review Committee, affecting 637,000 people, with projections indicating it could expand to five more.

The latest Hunger Hotspots report ranks Sudan among the five most concerning hotspots. Communities are experiencing famine, at risk of famine, or facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity due to escalating conflict, ongoing economic shocks, and natural disasters. These crises are further exacerbated by increasing access challenges and significant funding gaps.

Since June 2025, FAO and its resource and implementing partners have distributed nearly 1,000 tonnes of sorghum, millet and okra seeds in Central, West, East and South Darfur states. In addition, FAO is purchasing over 3,000 tonnes of crop seeds to support nearly 330,000 families, benefiting over 1.6 million people.
FAO is also scaling up its veterinary response, with plans to vaccinate 8 million animals owned by 3 million people across Sudan, a lifeline for rural communities where livestock are crucial for nutrition and income.
Despite the urgency, the response remains severely underfunded. FAO needs more than $156.7 million to reach over 14 million people with life-saving assistance in 2025. To date, only $4.1 million has been allocated, leaving a funding gap of $152.6 million.

FAO seed distributions are one of the most effective and cost-effective humanitarian responses to the food crisis in Sudan, enabling people not only to survive but also to sustain themselves in dignity by producing their own food and rebuilding their livelihoods. However, without urgent and scaled-up humanitarian intervention, including emergency agricultural support and unimpeded access to conflict-affected communities, the crisis will only worsen.