Agriculture

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing

Agriculture and livestock are the historical pillars of the Sudanese economy. Sudan, with an area of 1.86M km2, has a high agricultural potential, which is currently under-exploited.

Sudan's agricultural sector accounted for 30.5 percent of GDP in 2013 and 28.2 percent in 2014, and agricultural exports account for 60 percent of the country's non-oil exports. The sector employs between 70 and 80 percent of the labor force in rural areas and provides about 60 percent of the agribusiness industry's raw material needs. The majority of crops are commercial in nature.

Traditional rain-fed farming of small plots predominates in South Sudan, although mechanized farming techniques are increasingly utilized in some areas, such as in the northern part of the country. South Sudan’s main crop is sorghum. Other crops include corn (maize), millet, rice, cassava (manioc), peanuts (groundnuts), sweet potatoes, okra, and coffee. The main subsistence crops are sorghum, corn, and cassava, with smaller amounts of millet and rice being in grown in some areas. Peanuts are the primary cash crop. There is a considerable amount of livestock raised in the country, including goats, sheep, and cattle. Some livestock are raised for export, but this sector of the country’s economy is underdeveloped.