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The continuing conflict in Sudan between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), underway since April 2023, is inflicting devastating impacts on the country’s economy and on livelihoods. Model estimates show that production declines across different sectors have resulted in a loss of about $10 billion to GDP—about a third—as of September.

As noted in the Global Report on Food Crisis Mid-Year Update, conflict remains one of the major causes of food crises worldwide. Two recent alerts from FEWS Net echo this finding in both East and West Africa, where conflict is driving acute levels of food insecurity and hunger in both Sudan and Burkina Faso.

Achieving efficient and effective fertilizer usage in agricultural production is a critically important economic and environmental policy objective for countries at all stages of economic development, although the nature of the policy problem may vary radically in different contexts.

Africa’s progress toward hunger and poverty reduction has faced significant setbacks in recent years. Multiple shocks, including global and regional conflicts and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, have increased the prevalence of undernutrition and child malnutrition; in addition, significant micronutrient deficiencies persist in the region.

International food commodity prices have experienced a series of shocks over the past decade. The prices of rice, maize, and wheat spiked in 2007-08 as a result of supply shocks, demand for biofuels, and export trade restrictions. Commodity prices increased again in 2010-11. And most recently, global supply chain disruptions in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent international food and fertilizer prices soaring, though they have moderated somewhat after peaking in mid-2022.