From Seed to Storage: Sudan’s BOOST Project Seeks to Rebuild Harvests and Rural Farming Incomes

Sudan’s BOOST programme aims to help 232,000 farmers in Blue Nile and Sennar grow more food, protect harvests and rebuild incomes. Its impact will depend on whether support reaches farmers and connects them to working storage facilities and markets amid conflict and climate pressures.

Sudan's farmers are being asked to produce food through conflict, displacement and increasingly difficult growing conditions. A new agricultural programme in Blue Nile and Sennar states aims to give 232,000 smallholders more of the tools they need to keep farming, and to retain more of what they harvest.

The African Development Bank Group's Boosting Agrifood Systems Resilience in Sudan programme, known as BOOST, began implementation following a 15 September launch. Financed through the African Development Fund and implemented by the World Food Programme (WFP), it will work with farmers across 175 cooperatives. Its reach makes it a significant test of whether agricultural recovery can advance while Sudan's wider crisis continues.

Rebuilding Production Where Food Is Needed Most

Agriculture remains vital to Sudan's food supply, employment and household earnings. Yet conflict has disrupted cultivation and displaced communities, while climate shocks have added to the uncertainty farmers face each season. The result is a pressing need for food assistance alongside a longer-term need to restore the means of producing food locally.

BOOST aims to improve production across 1.16 million hectares through better access to climate-resilient seeds, improved technologies and more sustainable farming practices. The programme projects more than 980,000 tonnes of produce, valued at an estimated $468 million, and an overall productivity increase of roughly 25%.

Those figures describe what the programme hopes to achieve, rather than gains already recorded. For participating families, success would mean more reliable harvests, more food available at home and a greater chance to earn income from surplus crops. For Sudan, additional local production could help strengthen food supplies in the areas reached by the project. The scale of that effect will depend on actual yields and whether farmers can get their produce to market.

Keeping More of What Farmers Grow

A substantial part of BOOST focuses on a problem that begins after crops leave the field. Poor storage can turn a successful harvest into lost food and lost earnings before a farmer has the chance to sell it.

The programme plans to distribute more than 1.2 million airtight storage bags to over 200,000 farmers. It will also rehabilitate and equip 140 community-managed storage and processing facilities. Together, these measures are expected to reduce post-harvest losses by 20–25%.

If that target is met, households could retain more food between harvests and bring more saleable produce to local markets. Storage and processing facilities could also support cooperatives by helping them handle crops beyond the point of harvest. But the facilities will need effective management and maintenance. Their value will be measured by how much produce they protect and whether farmers can use them when needed.

Making Recovery an Opportunity to Earn

BOOST gives particular attention to women and young people, linking agricultural skills to opportunities to build businesses. Plans include training, access to finance and technology, mentorship and stronger market connections for youth-led cooperatives, small agricultural firms and start-ups.

This approach recognises that farming livelihoods depend on more than production alone. Farmers need buyers; agricultural businesses need supplies and customers; and people starting enterprises need a workable route from training to income. If those connections take hold, the programme could create opportunities in crop processing, storage and trade as well as on farms.

For private-sector stakeholders, higher and more reliable output could create demand for inputs and services and increase the supply of crops available to purchase. These remain potential opportunities. Conflict-related disruption, uncertain harvests and difficulties reaching markets could limit investment and sales.

The Test for Sudan's Policymakers and Partners

BOOST brings together the Bank Group, WFP, the Food and Agriculture Organization, UN Women and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center. It builds on the Bank Group's emergency wheat production work, which had reached 86,585 farmers and distributed more than 18,000 tonnes of certified seed and fertiliser by March 2026, according to the project information.

For policymakers and development partners, the programme reflects a shift from meeting urgent food needs alone towards helping communities sustain production and income. Both tasks remain necessary. Its practical challenge is to deliver seeds, training and storage support in time for farming seasons while responding to changing conditions on the ground.

The next measure of progress will be results in Blue Nile and Sennar: how many farmers can use the support provided, how much they harvest, how much they save from loss, and whether their incomes improve. Those outcomes will determine whether BOOST's ambitious production targets become a dependable source of food and livelihoods for the communities it is designed to serve.