SUMMARY
The FAO’s Food and Nutrition Security Resilience Program (FNS-REPRO) is a US $ 28 million four-year program funded by the Dutch government that directly contributes to the operationalization of the United Nations Security Council 2417 by providing “cause and effect “Link between conflict and food insecurity in the Republic of South Sudan, the Republic of Sudan (Darfur) and Somaliland. Launched in October 2019, the program aims to promote peace and food security on a large scale through a multi-year, livelihood and resilience-based approach. The FNS-REPRO component in Sudan focuses on supporting the production and value chain of gum arabic. The program is being implemented in the states of North and East Darfur.
Study approach
This report serves as the basis for the FNS-REPRO project for Sudan. The purpose of the current study is twofold. The first is to collect baseline values for identified project indicators, which will be tracked over time and used to determine the impact of the project. The second is to identify and document lessons learned that will facilitate the ongoing reorientation of the theory of change of the current project and help define and design similar future food security projects in Sudan as well as in other parts of the world with similar contexts. Overall, the study will use a panel design with intervention and comparison.
The study seeks to answer the following general questions:
-
To what extent has the Resilience Capacity Index (RCI) of the households in the study area changed as a result of the FNS-REPRO project?
-
To what extent has the income of households in the study area changed from the start of the FNS-REPRO project to the end of the project?
-
To what extent has the food security status of households in the study area changed from the start of the FNS-REPRO project to the end of the project?
-
Did the FNS-REPRO project support the production of gum arabic at household level in the project area?
To answer the research questions, a baseline study was designed and data was collected from intervention and non-intervention areas in North and East Darfur states. Data were collected from a total of 662 households, 391 treating / beneficiary households and 271 comparator / non-beneficiary households. The data collection took place in September 2020. The data was collected by the staff of the State Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (SMoAAR) in North Darfur and the State Ministry of Production and Economic Resources (SMoPER) in the State of East Darfur, as well as the agricultural planning units in collaboration with the FAO and the Sahari Organization for development. The employees were trained for three days in mobile data acquisition techniques (implemented with KoBo Collect) and the basics of the FAO methodology for measuring and analyzing the resistance index (RIMA).
Main results
-
The average Resilience Capacity Index (RCI) is estimated at 56. Male-headed households (RCI = 57) are more resilient than female-headed households (RCI = 51.7). Households in El Daein (RCI = 65.4) and Rural El Fasher (RCI = 65.8) show the highest resilience, while households in Tweisha (RCI = 50.2) show the lowest resilience.
-
Asset ownership (AST) and access to social safety nets (SSN) are the main contributors to observed resilience.
-
The three main sources of income for households in the study area are arable farming (excluding gum arabic) (77 percent), agricultural work (43 percent) and auxiliary workers (25 percent). Male-led households are more dependent on income from crop growing, agricultural labor and ranching, while female-led households are more dependent on crop production, agricultural labor and trade or retail trade.
-
Approximately 22.7 percent of households reported that at least one member of the household had been involved in gum arabic production in the past 12 months, and most of those households were in northern Darfur. Of those households involved in gum arabic production, 10 percent were female-led households. The average household land under hashab or acacia trees is 10 mukhamas. Of the households involved in the production of gum arabic, it has been reported that 44 percent combine the production of gum arabic with other plants. About 21 percent of households have accessed gum arabic market information in the past 12 months. Over 94 percent of households in the project area involved in gum arabic production use the Sonki tool to tap gum arabic and the same proportion do not use protective equipment when tapping. All households surveyed in the project area sell the gum arabic they produce as independent traders; none of these households sell through registered cooperative groups.
-
Around 68 percent of households have an acceptable Food Consumption Score (FCS). There is a statistically significant difference in FCS by head of household gender – households with male bosses have a higher FCS. In terms of foods consumed in the past seven days, oils and fats, grains, spices and milk are often consumed at least four days a week. Proteins from meat, eggs and legumes are the least consumed by households.
-
It was found that the wealth index, the agricultural wealth index, the keeping of tropical livestock units, the size of the land cultivated in summer, and the education of the head of household (years) are positively related to the food security of households. The main shock undermining food security in the study area is decreased household income.
