War Forces Nuba Farmers Back to the Mountains as Food Crisis Deepens in South Kordofan

As Sudan’s devastating war enters its third year, its impact on agriculture in South Kordofan has been catastrophic — forcing thousands of Nuba farmers to abandon fertile lowlands and return to the mountains in a desperate bid for survival.

Fields in Ruins: Al-Kurgul and Kertala Collapse

In Al-Kurgul, north of Kadugli, military clashes have halted farming for two consecutive years. Meanwhile, in Kertala, part of the Six Mountains area, cultivated land has shrunk to barely 30% of its usual capacity. In Dilling, residents now rely on small household plots known locally as “Jabraka” to grow minimal food crops, just enough to survive.

Kadugli’s Return to the Highlands

Decades after abandoning highland farming, Nuba residents of Kadugli are once again planting small patches on nearby mountain slopes. In neighborhoods like Kalba, Marta, Hajar Al-Mek, Kleemo, Tafri, Al-Sama, and Mount Lofo, families are cultivating narrow terraces on rocky soil to replace fields lost to conflict and siege.

Farmer Khadija Toto from Mount Lofo said residents can no longer reach their distant lands. “We plant in the nearby hills now. The yield is small, but it’s better than hunger,” she said, stressing that humanitarian aid remains scarce amid the ongoing blockade (source: Al-Tara Sudan).

A Daily Struggle for Survival

Across the mountain slopes, scenes of hardship unfold daily: women carrying hoes on their backs, children hauling buckets of water, and men digging through hard, stony earth. The crops barely sustain families and leave no surplus for trade or storage — a sign of deepening food insecurity across the region.

Trader Musa Atroun explained that after two years of war, most large-scale farmers have stopped using machinery like tractors. “Now, we buy sorghum from South Sudan or smugglers,” he said, noting that farmland this season rarely exceeds one acre (locally called al-makhmasan), with sorghum prices surging to 25,000 Sudanese pounds per “malwa.”

The Nuba’s Historic Mountain Refuge

Mountain farming, long practiced by the Nuba during crises, is more a survival strategy than an economic choice. Historian Dr. Tawhid Khamis describes the method known as “contour” or “terrace farming”, which uses curved lines along mountain slopes to conserve moisture and allow plants to grow in tight spaces. “It’s an ancient response to persecution and war — a way to stay alive when driven from the plains,” he said.

War and the Return to Tradition

With Kadugli under siege and humanitarian access dwindling, residents have turned once more to these ancestral techniques. Mountain farming now represents a fragile form of food self-sufficiency, allowing families to endure despite minimal harvests and ongoing violence.

Economic and Social Toll

The collapse of commercial agriculture has inflated food costs, crippled local trade, and deepened poverty. Women and children now shoulder the bulk of agricultural labor, worsening health and education outcomes.

Today, mountain farming in the Nuba Hills is not just an economic adaptation — it is a lifeline, preserving both survival and cultural heritage. Amid war and hunger, the Nuba people continue to plant, dig, and hope — sustaining life where the soil is thin, and the future uncertain.