The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has launched a nationwide livestock vaccination campaign in Sudan that aims to protect 9.8 million animals belonging to 1.2 million households, as conflict, displacement and a deepening food crisis continue.

The 2026–2027 campaign, which builds on the 2025 round, was launched in Sharg An Neel (East Nile) during a visit by Rein Paulsen, director of FAO's Office of Emergencies and Resilience, who travelled across Khartoum, White Nile and Sinnar states this week. It will target common livestock diseases and will be paired with vouchers for concentrated feed and mineral salt licks for eligible owners.

Sudan's livestock herd was estimated at 115.4 million animals in 2025, and milk is a key defence against child malnutrition among displaced families. FAO puts livestock-related losses since the conflict began in April 2023 at nearly $3 billion. The fighting destroyed the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory in Soba, for more than five decades the country's only producer of veterinary vaccines, which made up to 35 million doses a year.

To fill the gap, FAO helped import about 23 million doses in 2025 and handled the cold chain and delivery, including, for the first time, through a cross-border corridor from Chad into Darfur. Between October 2025 and July 2026 it vaccinated 8.4 million animals, benefiting an estimated 537,000 households, or 2.7 million people.

"Protecting an animal today costs far less than replacing one tomorrow," Paulsen said, adding that for families in need of humanitarian assistance livestock are also a vital source of milk.

The agency warns that crops are under strain too. National cereal output has been 22–25 percent below average for three years, and forecasts point to a 30–40 percent rainfall deficit linked to what may be the strongest El Niño on record. In the 2024–2025 season FAO reached more than 832,000 households in 15 states with over 8,000 tonnes of seed, contributing to a grain harvest of 6.6 million tonnes.

Funding remains far short of need: FAO's Sudan emergency and resilience portfolio stands at $44.1 million against a $193 million appeal under its 2026–2028 plan, and only 11 percent of the emergency agriculture requirements in Sudan's 2026 humanitarian plan are funded.

Source: FAO Newsroom