Food insecurity in Sudan is driven by civil war, climate shocks, border disputes and restrictions on seasonal cross-border labour migration from Ethiopia. Sudan’s recovery will depend on restoring stability, rebuilding agricultural systems, and creating more predictable frameworks for regulated cross-border seasonal labour mobility.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that Sudan remains a major refugee-hosting country in Africa, currently sheltering an estimated 1.1 million refugees.[i] These refugees are mostly from Eritrea and Ethiopia, countries facing internal crises. Ethiopia and Sudan share the longest border. Along this border lie the fertile regions of Gedaref, Sinnar and Blue Nile, which have the highest agricultural output in Sudan.[ii] The most important crop here is sesame, as Sudan is the world’s largest sesame producer, with its market estimated at US$ 7.5 billion in 2023.[iii] Since this region lies along the border, many Ethiopian migrants come to work on these Sudanese farms.

However, the 2023 civil war in Sudan has affected the labour movement, creating a labour shortage. This, alongside the famine, has created a food shortage[iv] and rising inflation[v] in Sudan. According to UNHCR, the April 2023 war and climate change together have internally displaced approximately 13 million people in Sudan.[vi] According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),[vii] erratic weather, shifting seasons and environmental degradation have led to crop failures, affecting livelihoods. Sudan also has a boundary dispute with Ethiopia in the Al-Fashaga region. All these have collectively caused a shortage in agricultural output, resulting in food insecurity.

Cross-Border Migration in Sudan

Ethiopia and Sudan share a porous boundary, contested for over a century. In 1902, when Sudan was still under British rule, the Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1902 attempted to demarcate the boundary. This attempt was followed by a unilateral British effort to demarcate it in 1903. However, it was rejected by Ethiopia. After Sudan’s independence in 1956, the two countries sought, in 1972, a negotiated border demarcation through the Exchange of Notes.[viii] Despite these efforts, the 874 km-long border between Ethiopia and Sudan remains disputed.

This region is home to the Nuer, Murle and Anyuaa (Anyuak/Anywaa) ethnic groups, who engage in agriculture and animal husbandry. Of these, the Anyuaa are an agrarian group, controlling the right and left banks of the rivers and arid zones for their land cultivation practices. These groups sharing similar cultural, linguistic and pastoral traditions have facilitated cross-border farming, livestock herding and local trade.[ix]  Agriculture has long underpinned livelihoods in border regions, with seasonal farm labour serving as a vital income source for communities on both sides. Sudanese farmers, in particular, have relied on Ethiopian migrant workers during peak planting and harvesting periods, with cross-border movement (both formal and informal) highlighting the strong economic interdependence of these borderland areas.

A key site of cross-border farming and seasonal employment is the Al-Fashaga triangle, a long-disputed region spanning roughly 243,000 hectares of fertile land nourished by the Tekeze, Atbara and Angereb rivers. Claimed by both Sudan and Ethiopia, it attracts large numbers of seasonal workers. Farmers from Sudan’s Gedaref State and Ethiopia’s Amhara and Tigray regions compete for access to farmland and grazing. Due to these overlapping claims, control is fluid, with land cultivated by Ethiopian farmers in one season often shifting to Sudanese communities in another.[x] This has led to problems in calculating regional agricultural output and in further assessing regional food security.

The regional seasonal migration schemes attract over 600,000 participants.[xi] Additionally, around 80,000 people arrive in Sudan every year to find work on farms in Gedaref State, where labour demand is high.[xii]  Therefore, seasonal migration became essential to Ethiopian livelihoods and Sudan’s agriculture, increasing Sudan’s reliance on Ethiopian labour to sustain output.

Another factor that contributed to increased dependence on Ethiopian seasonal labour was South Sudan’s independence. Before 2011, alongside Ethiopian seasonal labour, Sudan relied on internal seasonal labour from the southern states.[xiii] The volatile borders between the two nations have reduced seasonal labour from South Sudan, contributing to the current labour shortage in Sudan and exacerbating regional food shortages.

With the onset of internal unrest in Sudan, many farmers were internally displaced. The Sudanese government had also stopped issuing entry permits to the Ethiopian seasonal labourers on the grounds of ‘national security’, leading to lower agricultural production. Many youth have also migrated to urban centres such as Khartoum and Port Sudan, reducing the local pool of available farm labour.[xiv] Together, these factors have created a structural labour shortage in Sudan’s agricultural sector, making Ethiopian seasonal workers indispensable to sustaining agricultural production and rural livelihoods.

The 2023 Conflict and Food Security

The conflict in 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has had a devastating impact on the lives of the people. The capture of large parts of Greater Khartoum has been especially consequential. The capital region is not only home to roughly one-eighth of Sudan’s population, but........

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