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In general, small-scale farmers and herders (South) in the traditional
rain fed farming and livestock sectors are poorer than those in the irrigated
agricultural sector. And people who do not have land to farm eke out a
livelihood by undertaking casual labor such as collecting firewood and making
charcoal.
People living in areas that have been or continue to be affected by
drought and conflict – particularly in the south and Darfur - are the most
vulnerable to poverty. Isolation is one of the key factors affecting
poverty. Settlements located away from main thoroughfares have little or no
access to social services and markets. Within rural communities, households
without assets and labor power are the poorest. They include elderly or
disabled people, and households headed by women with young dependants. Women
and girls are the most disadvantaged members of society – less than one third
of them have access to education.
Inadequate development strategies, slow adaptation to climatic volatility, and erosion of natural resources are the root causes of poverty. These causes have also fuelled the prolonged civil conflicts that have had a devastating effect on the rural population. Poor rural people practice subsistence agriculture, and their livelihoods are based on crop cultivation, herding and fishing, where available. Smallholder farmers are hindered by the limited size of their landholdings, low rates of productivity and an inability to improve their incomes. Because of the lack of rainfall and domestic water supplies, for most farmers the growing season is brief and crop failures are frequent.
Because their access to credit, distribution and marketing channels is limited, and because they have inadequate technical knowledge and poor skills in production and marketing, farmers find it difficult to break out of the cycle of low productivity and income. Seasonal migration of rural workers in pursuit of wage labor opportunities on mechanized and irrigated farms and in urban areas has become widespread.
They need training in agriculture and farming skills.
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Farmers
