Face of Truth: The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and the Question of Food Security?

Ibrahim Shglawi

In light of the ongoing crisis our country is experiencing due to the prolonged war, challenges are mounting before the state in its pursuit of achieving food security, as it is an issue closely linked to the future of the state and the fate of the people.

Yesterday, Minister of Agriculture Prof. Ismat Qureshi affirmed that achieving food security is a national and moral duty, stressing the importance of ensuring that every Sudanese family has access to food. He also called for collective action to build sustainable food systems in light of the challenges of war and climate, explaining that Sudan possesses vast agricultural potential that qualifies it to be a food basket for the region, provided that local and international efforts are made to support production and farmers affected by conflicts.

These statements came during the celebration of World Food Day 2025, organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) under the slogan: “Hand in Hand for Better Food and a Better Future.” A slogan with clear political implications, at a time when Sudan is experiencing volatility and instability.

The Minister’s emphasis on Sudan’s potential to become a regional food basket, conditional on the cooperation of local and international efforts, is an implicit acknowledgment that the challenges facing the country cannot be overcome through administrative solutions alone but require a fundamental reform of the political, security, and legislative environment.

In contrast, the FAO, through its representative in Sudan, “Hongjie Yang,” reiterated that food security is inseparable from the paths of building peace and dignity, placing the food file at the heart of the political stability equation. The battle against hunger, in light of armed conflict and declining production, is a battle against the potential disintegration of the state and the challenges of collapse in the social contract.

The importance of this proposition deepens when considering that Sudan possesses more than 174 million feddans of arable land, of which 106 million feddans remain uncultivated, in addition to vast water resources that are not adequately utilized. These numbers reveal a stark contradiction between natural abundance and production deficiency and reflect a structural imbalance in agricultural and water policies and the absence of a strategic vision that understands agriculture not merely as an economic activity but as a tool of national sovereignty.

In this context, the agricultural challenge cannot be separated from the regional changes that have occurred in the water file in East Africa, particularly after the establishment of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which has redrawn the balance of water power in the Nile Basin.

It has become clear that food security in Sudan is directly intersecting with water security. Therefore, developing integrated water plans, studies, and policies has become an urgent necessity to achieve mutual benefits from the GERD, especially in light of the technical information exchange agreement between Sudan and Ethiopia signed in October 2022, which stipulated the establishment of monitoring and information exchange mechanisms.

The restructuring of the water resources system, agricultural planning, modernization of irrigation technologies, and activation of investments in agricultural and water infrastructure have become existential necessities in the phase of recovery and rebuilding.

From this standpoint, specialized scientific forums and national and regional seminars gain great importance as platforms for strategic thinking, to reformulate the state’s agricultural and water priorities in light of regional developments.

Involving researchers, experts, and research centers in planning post-war policies represents a cornerstone for building the modern state and strengthening decision-making. These forums also play a coordinating role between the center and the states, and between the public and private sectors, and link national efforts with international and regional funding institutions, which require the presence of well-studied and integrated plans.

In this context, national momentum intersects with regional momentum, as manifested in the Third Arab Ministerial Meeting for Ministers of Agriculture and Water, which was held in Cairo last week, aiming to strengthen integration between agricultural and water policies in the region in line with the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and the Paris Climate Agreement, to reduce disaster risks.

Sudan, in this context, represents a special model in terms of challenges and latent opportunities, if a stable political environment is provided that enables it to enter productive strategic partnerships based on mutual interests.

The meeting highlighted the need to enhance institutional coordination between the agriculture and water sectors, not only to improve service performance but also to establish the foundations of good governance and regional integration in resource management.

Through the issues presented, Sudan represented a model case for rebuilding these two sectors in post-conflict states, in a way that ensures achieving food security as a lever for stability.

Sudan’s agricultural and water abundance remains, to this moment, a suspended wealth due to the collapse of infrastructure caused by war, but it is also a window of salvation if national priorities are reordered. Agriculture in Sudan expresses the state’s capacity and serves as a tool for economic resistance in the face of hunger, poverty, and dependency. Food has become a mirror of sovereignty and a new front in the battle for national independence.

Accordingly, according to #Face_of_Truth, the future of food security in Sudan is closely linked to political stability, institutional rebuilding, and directing investments toward productive sectors within an integrated policy framework that understands that land and water mean nothing without governance, planning, and national will.

Wishing you health and wellness.

Tuesday, October 21, 2025

Shglawi55@gmail.com