The World Food Programme (WFP) is facing a funding shortfall of almost $300 million in Sudan as the country’s devastating war pushes more people towards hunger and forces humanitarian agencies to scale back assistance.
WFP’s funding for Sudan has fallen by roughly half this year, acting Executive Director Carl Skau told Reuters after a visit to several parts of the country.
The UN agency received $645 million in funding last year, but had secured only $206 million by mid-September 2026, leaving it struggling to maintain operations in what has become the world’s largest hunger crisis.
Skau said the situation had changed dramatically. While humanitarian organizations previously struggled mainly with gaining access to people trapped by the conflict, aid workers can now reach some communities but lack the funds to provide adequate assistance.
“We have a presence that we are not fully utilizing because of the lack of funding,” he said.
WFP forced to prioritize millions
The war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has devastated the country’s economy, disrupted agriculture and displaced millions of people since fighting erupted in April 2023.
Up to 14 million people have been displaced by the conflict, while widespread destruction and disrupted harvests have further aggravated food insecurity.
With funding shrinking, the WFP has been forced to concentrate its resources on the five million people considered most in need.
The agency has recently expanded assistance to about four million people, but even that support is increasingly being reduced.
In Tawila, North Darfur, where roughly one million people have sought refuge, WFP is able to reach the entire population each month. However, recipients receive only half the normal ration, enough to provide food for about two weeks.
“It’s not clear how they really are surviving the other two weeks,” Skau said.
The situation is similarly difficult in El Obeid, a central Sudanese city that has received about one million displaced people since the war began. WFP is currently prioritizing people who arrived in the city in recent months, while resources available for longer-term displaced populations have declined.
“We are providing, but less and less. A year ago it was better because of resources,” Skau said.
Darfur remains devastated
Skau also described the humanitarian situation in Darfur as particularly severe, with little evidence of normal life returning to some communities that have endured intense violence.
In areas affected by major attacks by the RSF, investigators have documented atrocities, including incidents that they said bore the hallmarks of genocide.
The continuing violence has compounded the food crisis by restricting movement, destroying agricultural production and making it harder for humanitarian agencies to deliver assistance.
IOM warns supplies could run out
WFP is not the only UN agency facing a financial crisis in Sudan.
The International Organization for Migration warned on Monday that emergency supplies for hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the war could run out within weeks without additional funding.
The agency said stocks of shelter materials, sanitation supplies and emergency household items are expected to be exhausted by the end of September.
Without new funding, IOM said the broader humanitarian aid system could remain operational only until December.
“We simply can’t turn our back on the people of Sudan,” IOM Director General Amy Pope said, warning that the humanitarian system could collapse within weeks without urgent action.
IOM estimates that 8.6 million people remain internally displaced across Sudan, while another 4.9 million people have returned to their communities.
The agency is seeking $15 million to maintain its aid pipeline through the end of the year and support about 305,000 people.
Without the money, more than 100 humanitarian organizations could face difficulties delivering emergency assistance quickly to people in need.
Global aid cuts worsen crisis
The funding crisis in Sudan comes as humanitarian organizations worldwide contend with steep reductions in international aid.
The United States, previously the world’s largest aid donor, has cut billions of dollars in foreign assistance to UN agencies and humanitarian organizations under the Trump administration.
Other major donor countries have also reduced aid budgets, pointing to financial pressures and increased defence spending.
For Sudan, where years of conflict have already destroyed livelihoods and displaced millions, the shrinking international response risks turning an already severe food crisis into an even larger catastrophe.
The WFP’s funding gap now leaves humanitarian workers facing a stark choice: reach fewer people or provide smaller rations to those they can reach.
As the war continues, aid agencies warn that without a rapid increase in funding, millions of Sudanese facing hunger could be left without the food, shelter and basic supplies they need to survive.
