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With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

Carlo Azzarri

Carlo Azzarri is a Senior Research Fellow in the Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit. His work focuses on the relationships among poverty, nutrition, food security, agriculture, the environment, production, and migration—analyzed at both micro and macroeconomic levels, primarily using quantitative methods.

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Since 1975, IFPRI’s research has been informing policies and development programs to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods around the world.

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IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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Development Strategies and Governance

Hala Abushama

Research Analyst

Bio

Hala Abushama is a Research Analyst with the Development Strategies and Governance Unit, and is working in an outposted capacity.

Development Strategies and Governance

Publications

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Report

Essential commodities prices, availability, and market actors’ perceptions: February 2025

2025Siddig, Khalid; Nigus, Halefom Yigzaw; Abushama, Hala; Rakhy, Tarig
Details

Essential commodities prices, availability, and market actors’ perceptions: February 2025

Sudan faces significant challenges due to prolonged conflicts, political instability, and economic disruptions. The ongoing conflict is disrupting market systems, exacerbating price volatility, and limiting the availability of essential commodities. Supply chain disruptions, insecurity, and infrastructure damage often restrict market access and contribute to rising food and fuel costs. In conflict-affected areas, transportation and security challenges intensify price disparities, making staple foods and key agricultural inputs increasingly unaffordable, especially for vulnerable populations. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is conducting a comprehensive market monitoring initiative across Sudan’s 18 states, tracking the prices and assessing the availability and quality of essential commodities, observing changes in exchange rates, and gathering qualitative insights from market actors. This report provides an overview of market trends in Sudan during February 2025. It will be updated monthly.

Year published

2025

Authors

Siddig, Khalid; Nigus, Halefom Yigzaw; Abushama, Hala; Rakhy, Tarig

Citation

Siddig, Khalid; Nigus, Halefom Yigzaw; Abushama, Hala; Mohamed, Shima; and Rakhy, Tarig. 2025. Essential commodities prices, availability, and market actors’ perceptions: February 2025. Sudan Market Prices and Availability Report 1. Khartoum, Sudan: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174297

Country/Region

Sudan

Keywords

Africa; Northern Africa; Commodities; Prices; Market Economies; Shock

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Report

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Brief

IFPRI-Sudan: Generating evidence-based solutions for strengthening humanitarian response and economic resilience

2025Siddig, Khalid; Abay, Kibrom A.; Kirui, Oliver K.; Abushama, Hala; Mohamed, Shima; Rakhy, Tarig
Details

IFPRI-Sudan: Generating evidence-based solutions for strengthening humanitarian response and economic resilience

Sudan is experiencing one of the most severe humanitarian and economic crises in its modern history due to the ongoing conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Sudan is now suffering the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. The war has devastated livelihoods, displaced millions, and significantly weakened the country’s agrifood systems and broader economic structures. In response, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), along with its partners, has intensified its research and policy engagement in Sudan through the Sudan Strategy Support Program (SSSP), which was launched in 2022. IFPRI’s work on Sudan is centered on addressing fragility, post-conflict recovery, resilience-building, and economic development. Its research and policy engagements focus on food security, economy-wide modeling, social protection, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSME), and agricultural resilience as it works to provide critical evidence-based insights to support recovery efforts that will enable Sudan to regain peace and economic growth and stability. Through high-frequency data collection, impact evaluations, and policy dialogues, the SSSP team has continued to deliver data-driven solutions to inform humanitarian responses, economic revitalization, and development planning in Sudan. By collaborating with organizations such as the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank, and other CGIAR centers and initiatives, IFPRI, through SSSP, has generated information to design effective interventions for conflict-affected populations and institutions working to rebuild Sudan’s economy.

Year published

2025

Authors

Siddig, Khalid; Abay, Kibrom A.; Kirui, Oliver K.; Abushama, Hala; Mohamed, Shima; Rakhy, Tarig

Citation

Siddig, Khalid; Abay, Kibrom A.; Kirui, Oliver K.; Abushama, Hala; Mohamed, Shima; and Rakhy, Tarig. 2025. IFPRI-Sudan: Generating evidence-based solutions for strengthening humanitarian response and economic resilience. Sudan SSP Brief April 2025. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174025

Country/Region

Sudan

Keywords

Africa; Northern Africa; Capacity Development; Economic Crises; Economic Development; Fragility; Resilience

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Foresight

Record type

Brief

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Working Paper

Under the gun: Military and paramilitary actors in Sudan’s agri-food system

2025Resnick, Danielle; Abushama, Hala; Ahmed, Mosab O. M.; Kirui, Oliver K.; Siddig, Khalid
Details

Under the gun: Military and paramilitary actors in Sudan’s agri-food system

Armed actors, including militaries and paramilitaries, are heavily entrenched in the agrifood systems of several low- and middle-income countries, often resulting in negative implications for both agricultural transformation and democratic transitions. However, the role of armed actors is overlooked in the scholarship on the governance of agricultural value chains. To address this gap, this paper focuses on the role of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan’s agrifood system. Through over 50 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, the paper traces how the SAF and RSF initially gained their foothold in the agrifood system and how they interact with each other, and the private sector across diverse value chains. We argue that these actors decide to pursue investments in certain value chains depending on the extent to which the private sector is already involved and the degree of technical complexity required to attain more profitable product upgrading. Based on these considerations, we uncover four strategies used by SAF and RSF in different value chains: exclusive capture and rent extraction, competition through biased licensing and quota allocations, acquiescence to existing private competitors when value-addition is too complex, and innovation when potential is high and the private sector is absent. We show how these strategies manifest across value chains as diverse as livestock, wheat, gum Arabic, and horticulture, with secondary applications to other commodities. Given that economic competition between SAF and RSF was a major factor in the outbreak of the 2023 armed conflict, identifying how these strategies emerged and manifested not only contributes to the literature on business-state relations but also expands insights about the political economy antecedents of large-scale conflict.

Year published

2025

Authors

Resnick, Danielle; Abushama, Hala; Ahmed, Mosab O. M.; Kirui, Oliver K.; Siddig, Khalid

Citation

Resnick, Danielle; Abushama, Hala; Ahmed, Mosab; Kirui, Oliver Kiptoo; and Siddig, Khalid. 2025. Under the gun: Military and paramilitary actors in Sudan’s agri-food system. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2328. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173517

Country/Region

Sudan

Keywords

Africa; Northern Africa; Agricultural Transformation; Food Systems; Military Operations; Political Aspects; Value Chains

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

Events

Two Years of Crisis: Impact and Pathways to Recovery and Resilience
Series/Special Event

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April 14 to 15, 2025

Two Years of Crisis: Impact and Pathways to Recovery and Resilience

The Sudan conflict, now entering its third year, continues to devastate the country’s socioeconomic fabric. As of January 2025, more than 8.8 million people were internally displaced, and over 3.3 million had sought refuge in neighboring countries. Conservative reports estimate over 32,000 fatalities occurred between the start of the war on April 15, 2023, and […]

Navigating Sudan’s Conflict: Research Insights and Policy Implications
Series/Special Event

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March 5, 2024, 12:00 – 9:00 pm

Navigating Sudan’s Conflict: Research Insights and Policy Implications

Hybrid Event: March 5, 2024 at 8:00am-6:00pm EAT / 12:00am – 10:00am EST. IFPRI and UNDP have partnered for this event on wide-ranging and in-depth analysis to better understand the socioeconomic impact of the war in Sudan, and to inform policy and programmatic recommendations.