October 31, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Sudan has welcomed the Swedish government’s contribution of SEK 26 million (about $ 2.3 million) directed towards supporting the food agency’s post-harvest loss programme.
The donation, WFP said in a statement, which will be integrated with the Productive Safety Net (PSN), a programme that received funding from Sweden from 2019-2022.
These funds, it noted, will support advancing the capacity of over 34,000 smallholder farmers across the country through training on post-harvest handling methods and the use of hermetic storage equipment to increase food availability at the household level.
“In a year where more than a third of Sudanese people face various forms of food insecurity, any loss or waste in the food system is simply unacceptable. The contribution by the Swedish Government will go a long way in ensuring we are able to improve food security, reduce postharvest loss and help preserve greater quantity and better-quality food to meet the needs of the people of Sudan,” said Eddie Rowe, WFP’s Representative and Country Director in Sudan.
Over 30% of food, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), is annually lost in sub-Saharan Africa due to poor harvesting.
WFP, with support from donors and partners, is supporting smallholder farmers to acquire skills and knowledge on how to safely process and store produce post-harvests.
“We are pleased to continue our support to Sudanese smallholder farmers through our partner WFP. With the additional funds of 26 million Swedish kronor, WFP can further scale up the work to reduce Post Harvest Losses and increase food security in Sudan. Sweden values its strong partnership with WFP on these issues and we look forward to continued close cooperation,” said Signe Burgstaller, Ambassador of Sweden in Sudan.
The Swedish government’s contribution, WFP stressed, would be used to scale up ongoing training for farmers on preventing post-harvest losses, purchasing and distributing an additional 104,550 hermetic bags and 17,425 manuals and building warehouses in communities through the PSN modality.
(ST)
