SalaaMedia Report
Local initiatives have multiplied to reduce the effects of the humanitarian situation left behind by the war between the Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces, after international efforts to provide humanitarian aid faced many obstacles; which caused famine in a number of states in the country. Among these initiatives are what emergency rooms and youth groups in Darfur towns have been doing, and efforts to make this year’s agricultural season a success, in addition to attempts to open airports in Darfur towns to receive humanitarian aid after the rainy season hindered the delivery of relief to all parts of the region.
In this report, the SalaaMedia Center monitors these initiatives and their effectiveness in confronting the effects of the war and famine that struck large parts of towns and displacement camps in Darfur.
Emergency Room Initiatives
The initiatives led by the emergency rooms in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, varied, as they implemented a number of projects during July, 2024 that included distributing drinking water to more than 1,400 families, and the collective kitchen project that benefitted 1,173 families, in addition to distributing food supplies to 200 families. According to the emergency room and health centers in Nyala, the three projects funded by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) covered about 17 neighborhoods in the town.
SalaaMedia monitored 16 emergency rooms in the neighborhoods of Al-Fashir town, displacement camps, localities and villages in North Darfur. These rooms provide services (collective kitchen for 8,870 families in 96 shelter, food supplies for 1,011 families, and drinking water in 7 shelters),while the emergency rooms announced the temporary suspension of their services due to the lack of funding, there are initiatives in some areas of the state, but the SalaaMedia team was unable to identify the families or individuals benefitting from them.
Zalingei Emergency Room
Nine emergency rooms were identified in central Darfur state, providing services such as (food items, treatment of malnutrition in children, and collective kitchens). The number of beneficiaries from these rooms amounted to about 1,150 families and more than 310 children suffering from malnutrition.
Al-Daein Emergency Rooms
Under the umbrella of the Humanitarian Emergency Room in East Darfur state, a group of sub-rooms were active and worked to provide services that included (collective kitchens, water provision, and food supplies) but the SalaaMedia team did not have statistics on the number of families that benefitted from the services provided by the emergency rooms in East Darfur.
Al-Jenena Emergency Rooms
The Al-Jenena Emergency Room in West Darfur state took the initiatives to attract support to provide the necessary materials to the emergency rooms in the town’s neighborhoods; and in August 2024, it was able to deliver support to five collective kitchens (Umm Duayn, Ardamata, Al-Zahour, neighborhoods and Maqtaa), which are kitchens that provide daily meals to hundreds of families affected by rains and floods, but the SalaaMedia team was unable to find statistics indicating the number of families and individuals who benefited from the meals provided by these collective kitchens.
Agriculture in the Region
Cultivating agricultural lands in the Darfur Region is one of the solutions that the community relies on to achieve food security and overcome the famine that has struck large parts of Darfur. The area of arable land in the region is about 55 million acres; equivalent to a third of the agricultural land in Sudan.
Previous government reports indicate that South Darfur alone has 18 million acres suitable for agriculture, however, the state authority planned to cultivate only nine million acres this season, due to the loss of all agricultural inputs and components such as (seeds, agricultural machinery, fertilizers, and pesticides, and spraying and pest control mechanisms), according to Darfur 24.
While the agricultural areas East Darfur are estimated at about 13 million acres, of which even million acres are used annually; however, farmers and owners of agricultural machinery suppliers expected that the agricultural areas will shrink this season to less than 50%; in addition to the pests threatening agricultural seasons every year.
West Darfur state has eight million acres suitable for agriculture, of which only three million acres have been used. This season, the state authority has developed a plan to cultivate about 2.1 million acres this year in order to achieve food security with a production estimated at 207 thousand tons.
In Central Darfur state, the arable land is 3.4 million acres. The state witnessed a significant decline in agricultural production and cultivated areas in the previous season to less than one million acres out of a total of 3.4 million acres, of the areas that were cultivated in previous season. Darfur 24.
Last March, the Ministry of Agriculture in North Darfur state announced that it was planning to cultivate 5.3 million acres in the current agricultural season, but after the outbreak of the war, there is no information about the areas that have been cultivated.
According to the tables attached to this report, the emergency rooms in the five states have contributed significantly to alleviating the suffering of citizens facing hunger and the disastrous effects of war, floods, and torrents. Given the information available about the efforts made by the emergency rooms, it has become necessary for the United States agencies and international organizations to provide support to these rooms so that their efforts in the collective kitchens continue as one of the effective initiatives so far, while citizens hope that the current agricultural season will contribute to reducing famine.