Farmers: Fuel shortage halts Sudan sorghum harvest

The fuels crisis in Sudan has brought a halt to the sorghum harvest in a number of agricultural projects in Sudan’s El Gedaref, farmers say.

Farmer Mustafa Sayed Khalil told Radio Dabanga that the fuel crisis which has entered its fourth week had a negative impact on the harvesting and transportation of sorghum.

He explained that farmers resort to buying fuel from the black market at high prices. “The harvest operations are failing because of the scarcity of labour and high prices and the rise in the prices of burlap sacks for the sorghum harvest.

He explained the low production of sorghum in the current agricultural season and expected problems to arise between the owners of livestock and farmers because of the delay.

Kassala

On Tuesday Kassala in eastern Sudan saw a severe traffic crisis due to the shortage of fuel and the rise of tariffs on transportation.

On Saturday residents from Kassala told Radio Dabanga of queuing at fuel stations for long hours.

They also complained of the overcrowding of a large number of residents in the transport stations where there are no vehicles to carry them.

The State Legislative Council of Kassala passed an increase of tariffs for transportation by 40 per cent and pointed out that the high operating costs are the reason for the increase.

Northern State

The New Halfa locality government in Sudan’s Northern State decided to increase the tariff for all the lines and circulated a publication.

According to the publication, the tariff of transportation has risen from SDG 5* SDG 7 for some lines and from SDG 10 to SDG 15, while the increase in some lines far from the market has risen to SDG 30.

*1 USD = SDG 19.9951 Based on the official US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS)