FOOD ACCESSIBILITY, A VIABILITY AND STABILITY IN RURAL

WHITE NILE STATE OF SUDAN

ABDEL SAMI MUSA IBRAHIM1, SHIWEI XU

2 & WEN YU

3

1Research Scholar, Agricultural Information Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of

Digital Agricultural Early-Warning Technology, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing, China

1Food Security Administration, Ministry of Agriculture Forestry, Animal Wealth and Irrigation, White Nile State, Sudan

2Professor, Agricultural Information Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China

3Assistant Professor, Agricultural Information Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT

Food security is a major problem which affects economy increasing in Sudan and other parts of Africa. Here,

through this study we had tried to know the pattern of food consumption and the food security status in White Nile State of

Sudan. The measurement of food security in the State was achieved through a household survey by questionnaire in 2012.

Through the indicators of Self-sufficiency rate and market rate, social factors had been confirmed to influence food

security status for the rural household through crops production, livestock production or household income. Using the co-

efficiency variation (CV) for Aggregated Price (ap) to the food groups, and Microsoft offices Excel 2007, the result shows

5 food groups had different level to central tendency, where vegetables 0.3 and sugar has zero dispersion among all foods

groups; in other hand, cereal grains and livestock groups had the same dispersion to the central tendency estimated 0.1. In

addition, we found that household spending 70.4% of total income on food items. Advocacy to increase self-sufficiency

rate from cereal grains mainly for all of the state population especially the state have relative resource to produce more

food.

KEYWORDS: Indicators of Food Security, Socio-Economic Factors, Rural Household, White Nile State of Sudan

INTRODUCTION

Food security is one of the major challenge which affects the growth and growing economies in the world. It is a

factor which continuously affecting politics and people well-being dramatically; in particular the countries of the 3rd

World. Sudan is one of among those countries which facing problems of food security especially in rural areas, where we

through this study had tried to know the pattern of food production and the food security status in rural areas of White Nile

State of Sudan; and which social factors that may influence food consumption behavior and household food security status.

Generally, food security pattern in Sudan depends on economic and social factor which can mentioned as

geographical factors, agricultural policies, marketing system and population demographic structure. Majlesi et al (2001)

mentioned that some social factors in developing countries influence food consumption and children growing up such as;

family size, education, parents job, socio-economic status, their knowledge about proper nutritional methods, prenatal care,

household head age, mothers weight, newborns sex, etc. In Sudan, more than 60% of the population reanimate in rural

areas with lacking of the basic services and overburdened by poverty particularly women and children (Yonos, 2001).

Hoida, (2012) reported that food security in Sudan is very risky in spite of the potential and resources endowment

of Sudan. FAO and WFP assessment mission (2010), reported that rural population of White Nile State of Sudan is made

International Journal of Agricultural

Science and Research (IJASR)

ISSN 2250-0057

Vol. 3, Issue 4, Oct 2013, 43-56

© TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.

44 Abdel Sami Musa Ibrahim, Shiwei Xu & Wen Yu

up subsistence farmers plowing traditional rain-fed farms whom are cultivate small plots 2-5 feddans, small producer

sowing sorghum as (an staple food) for their own consumption and keeping some of livestock for the same reasons.

White Nile State lies at the border of the South Sudan, (Latitude: 13° 16' 27" N and Longitude: 32° 26' 59" E),

population of the state is estimated at 1.73 millions of inhabitants (NBHS, White Nile state 2009). NSDDRC-SC/ UNDP

(2010) reported that, White Nile State population equivalent to 5% of the total population of Sudan, and urban people

representing 34% of the total state population, while the rural population estimated as 64% and 2% of population are

nomadic people of the state population.

During our survey we observed many camps for refugees and Internal Displace Persons (IDPs) around Kosti and

Rabak cities. These camps consist of many groups of people whom came from civil war zones. According to FAO

(SIFSIA, 2011), the refugees in White Nile State estimated in 2006 about 153,000 person forming nearly 10% of the state

population. In other hand the state consider as a transit point for IDPs returning to the South Sudan. South Kordofan State

and all those IDPs have been settled in/or around Kosti or Rabak and in many other camps. There are some previous

studies displayed the food security status in Sudan even in White Nile State but these studies are not concentrating mainly

on rural areas for that we tried to concentrating just on rural household because rural people representing the vast number

of the state population, so it could give an indicator about the food security status in rural areas of the Sudan.

For achieving the desired goals from this study we organized to 4 sections: the first one to give brief introduction

and overview about the study area containing household characteristics, food a viability and market. The second section is

about to explaining the methodology we used e.g., samples, data collection and some statistical models used to define the

purpose of the study and data description. The third section we talking about the surveyed result and discussion where we

trying to get an idea about the food security status in White Nile State using some indicators. By the end of this study in

fourth section we give conclusion and some recommendation through the lessons learned in this study case.

Food Availability and Markets

Staple Food Price

Musa, A., Abdelrahim, M., (2007), they are mentioned that the grain marketing system in Sudan functions under

many structural problems that make the overall operational environment less favorable. These problems include large

fluctuations in output, transport bottlenecks and poor market information in spatially separated market in a large country.

Ministry of agriculture (2012) reported that some studies in terms of crops price level are appears to corroborate our

findings. For example a survey of White Nile State of Sudan markets (2008) found average prices to be almost the same in

different parts of the state with 2005 being the worst years.

In 2008 prices shot up prior to harvest and only declined slightly in October 2008. While 2011 started from higher

average prices, in January 2011 and 2012, which’s clear in table 1. ((OECD)-(FAO), 2011)，reported that generally prices

are expected to rise and volatility because continued population and economic growth will put upward pressure on demand,

as will the anticipated increased use of different food commodities mainly agricultural products because the high cost of

agricultural inputs.

Table 1: Explaining the Staple Foods Price (in SDG) for Years (2003-2012) Includes all Parts of the State

Crops Unit 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Sorghum sac 37.9 44.67 78.43 36.84 34.79 84.72 98.94 108.11 98.58 178.89

Millet sac 39.5 55.17 91.1 41.37 53.41 96 128.08 140.5 159.92 234.92

Wheat sac 59 66.75 88.71 46.17 60.53 113 99 111.42 155.59 196.42

Sesame quintal 70.44 63.75 60.91 47.74 69.59 136 116 129.58 172.58 248.08

Food Accessibility, a Viability and Stability in Rural White Nile State of Sudan 45

Table 1: Contd.,

Groundnut quintal 43.57 41.66 41 39.56 48.1 98.67 90 105 100 155.23

Data Source: Agricultural Economics & Planning Administration, Ministry of Agriculture, White Nile State of Sudan.

1Sac=90(Kg) and quintal=100 (pound)

SDG; is the Sudanese Gineih (Pound)

Food and Prices Changes

Indeed in White Nile State commodities price changes seasonally due to many reasons the strong one is the

different in distance between villages from each to other and between villages to the nearest city market the long distance

estimated 20 kilometer and near one not more than 5 kilometer beside some villages have day market in the same village as

in table 3，in other hand, the price fluctuations for some cereal crops which is consider as the main staple food in Sudan

due to the high cost of inputs that resulting on the consumer prices also have changed significantly in response to the

reform market, that similar agreed with Economist Intelligence Unit, (EIU, 2012), reported that, global food prices rose 3

times as fast as inflation in the last decade and the huge price swings for staple crops made matters worse, disrupting

markets and harming both producers and consumers.

Actually now in Sudan the government releases the policy of free market transaction, even some times we observe

that the government has gradually remove market barriers and prices (where its more competitive) and relied more on

markets to determine prices change as in the Strategic Inventory Corporation for cereal crops which was established by

government to protect producer from price fluctuations.

Food price now in all Sudan have increased most rapidly among all consumption goods as an example in table 2

we used Aggregated Price (ap) to represent the prices amongst all food commodities, in our result we found that ED-

Dueim locality have higher price for meat food group among the localities followed by Asslam, EL-Jebalean and Kosti, in

addition to oil and sugar food groups which are has lower dispersion among other food groups. More clear, that the prices

of all food groups almost the same expect light different on oil food group and meat food group. In addition, we found that

food meat group price has a highest dispersion comparing to others food groups’ price where it’s clear in table 2.

Table 2: The Average of Aggregated Price for all Food Groups in Rural Area

Locality ap_Oil ap_Meat ap_Grain ap_Veget ap_Sugar

Asslam 13.56 23.43 2.68 4.61 5.31

ED-Dueim 12.96 27.13 2.34 4.20 5.53

EL-Jebalean 12.96 21.44 2.55 4.65 5.07

Kosti 13.43 20.93 2.29 4.75 5.44

Rabak 13.33 17.15 2.82 4.40 5.20

Tendelti 13.14 22.63 2.63 4.37 5.21

Average 13.23 22.12 2.55 4.49 5.29

St.Dev 0.25 3.28 0.20 0.21 0.17

CV 0.02 0.15 0.08 0.05 0.03

Data Source: The data collected by the authors’ survey

Read the material: get to know the concept: (1) MEAN; (2) STDEV-stand deviation;

(3) CV=STDEV/MEAN

http://apacgemba7.wikidot.com/statistics:variance-standard-deviation-and-coefficient

Household Access to Market

Even for the rural households to be easier to access to the market except for some remote villages, all villages

have access to permanent and weekly or day markets (periodic market). All surveyed villages (interviewed respondent)

reported that an average of 2 to 10 traders and regular markets which provide and sell grain and basic food commodities.

46 Abdel Sami Musa Ibrahim, Shiwei Xu & Wen Yu

In line, with the improving economic situation and sectoral performance, local government priorities to increasing

production, especially of food grains and meat. In other hand, table 3 explain the distance between surveyed villages

among all localities and the domestic markets which is influence markets price and changing food consumption pattern

through different kinds of commodities.

Table 3: Shows the Distance between Surveyed Villages and the Nearest Market for the Household

Locality Surveyed Village Description (the Nearest

Distance to Daily Market)

Distance

(km)

Frequency

(Day/Week)

Asslam

AL-Amara AL-Beja

35km from kosti (it has day

market/week in alsabaaa

mar.7 km.)

7 7

AL-Atshan

43km from kosti (it has day

market/week in alsabaaa

mar.15 km.)

15 1

Gajariya

45km from kosti (abu-rokoba

(28 kil) and umdebekrat (15

km ) days (3day) market

15 3

ED-Dueim

AL-Filfila 20 km from Ed-Dueim

market 20 7

Banat 17 km from Ed-Dueim

market 17 7

EL-Atshan

30 km from Ed-Dueim

market & Al-gardoud 2

days/week 7 km .

7 2

EL-Bogaa EL-Mobaraka

22 km from Ed-Dueim

market & Al-gardoud 2

days/week 7 km

7 2

EL-Mejaga 16 km from Ed-Dueim

market 16 7

UM-Takal 15 km from Ed-Dueim

market 15 7

ELJebalean

Goda

35 km from Rabak Mar. & 7

km. From Alhedab: daily

market

7 7

Tabet – Ganoup

27 km from Jebalean market

& 17 km from Alhedab daily

market

17 7

Tabet –Shamal

32 km from Jebalean market

& 12 km from Alhedab daily

market

12 7

Kosti

AL-hamaraya 11 km from kosti 11 7

Abu_Anbaj 18 km from kosti 18 7

Ajagoga Sharege 18 km from kosti 18 7

EL-alaiga A.B. 53 km from kosti & it has

3days / week 0 3

Mona 45 km from kosti & Alshour

daily market 12 km 12 7

Um-mahani 15 km from kosti 15 7

Rabak

Gazeera Aba AL-

Tamrean 5 km from algazira Aba 5 7

Gazeera Aba (Goba) 7 km from algazira Aba 7 7

Tendelti

AL-Bah Garep 10 km from tendelti market 10 7

AL-Bah Shareq 13 km from tendelti market 13 7

AL-Mansoura 17 km from tendelti market 17 7

Salima ALmahata 25 km from tendelti market

(it has one day market/week) 0 1

Data Source: Ministry of Agriculture, White Nile State of Sudan

Food Accessibility, a Viability and Stability in Rural White Nile State of Sudan 47

METHODOLOGY

Data Collection

Both primary and secondary data were collected from White Nile State of Sudan using the National baseline

household survey (NBHS) conducted in 2009. During the survey, we selected 24 villages from all 6 localities (Kosti, Ed-

Dueim, AL.Jabalean, Rabak, Alssalam and Tandalti) in White Nile State. Structured questionnaire based primary data was

collected from a total of 360 randomly selected households. In each of the villages, sampling was done with the help of

local authorities. List of all households in a village was taken as a sampling frame during assignment of primary data

source (PDS). From the list, the starting point was chosen at random using lottery technique. First, in every locality, we

listed all village names in alphabetical order, and give each one numeric code; then choose sample villages at random. In

the same way, for each selected village, we listed all household in the list, and given every household a code; and then

chose the sample by lottery for 15 times. The reason that we use this method is nearly the same situation among the

households, for example, the animal type, the income source, and etc. The questionnaire structure we used to assess: I)

Household demography and positions. II) Household income and expenditure. III) Food access. V) Food diversity. VI)

Agricultural and livestock production.

Data and Statistical Models

We used simple statistical models for analysis food security indicators and status as: calculate the Burden Co-

efficiency as below:

Burdc1 = (1)

(2)

Where “burdc” is the burden Co-efficiency for (1 and 2), “size_hh” is the family size and “size_labor_hh” it's

pointing to the number of labor in the family, “sizechil” is number of children in the same family. No far, we calculate self

Self-sufficiency rate “ssr” as:

(3)

Where “ssr” is the self Self-sufficiency rate, “W_Self_Pro” is the weight of food that households produced and

consumes by themselves.

(4)

Where ‘mr’ is the market rate, “WBought_mar” is the food goods bought from market; “Wtotal consumption” is the weight

of food that households consumed themselves. And also we used the co-efficiency variation (CV) for Aggregated Price

(ap) to the food groups, beside using Microsoft offices Excel 2007

Data Description

Household Demography

Through our survey data resulting that the family size over all rural areas of White Nile state was 7 persons per

family which was consist 2 of them were children, 4 labors, and the average age of the household head was 50 years old.

48 Abdel Sami Musa Ibrahim, Shiwei Xu & Wen Yu

We also found the average of education years in all rural localities was very low and the illiteracy was the dominant

situation in all rural White Nile State. Finally, we calculate the burden co-efficiency1 and burden co-efficiency

2 to

determine household income and livelihood as in table 4.

Table 4: Shows Some of Household Size and Composition by Locality in Study Area

Locality Family

Size

Size of

Children

Size of

Labors Age

Years of

Education

Burden Co-

Efficient1

Burden Co-

Efficient2

Asslam 7 3 3 48 1 2.33 1.56

ED-Dueim 6 2 3 54 5 2 1.50

EL-Jebalean 7 3 3 47 3 2.33 1.56

Kosti 7 3 4 50 4 1.75 1.27

Rabak 9 3 5 57 5 1.8 1.38

Tendelti 6 2 3 45 3 2 1.50

Total 7 2 4 50 4 1.75 1.4

Data Source: The data collected by the authors’ survey.

For all that we think food security situation in the White Nile State was addressed via outcomes of a household,

and these outcomes depended on the education level of the household head, for that we had gave more consideration and

concentrate on education in the study area, where Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (2009) mentioned that

children, both male and female in rural area of White Nile State of Sudan play a crucial role in the family production

process. They help in the planting, weeding, irrigation, guarding, harvest and rearing animals; as in our finding in this

study we found that burden co-efficiency2 of family is significant and play important role on food security in the study

area, we found there were 1.8 of labor whose families experienced severe burden and 1.4 of children shared household

severe burden experienced. So it is in this way that skills are transferred from generation to other generation. To survive

under disadvantageous conditions in the study area, rural households tend to diversify their income sources between farm

and non-farm activities with the strong coefficient of relationship between all family members, and between family-owned

enterprises and wage labor.

Household Food Production

In terms of commercial grain production in the semi-mechanized farming system in the White Nile State is mostly

market-oriented production and the entire production goes for marketing. This duality and the nature of the production

system which influences the grain trade and grain markets in the State influence the supply and demand for food grains.

Table 5: Shows Average of Crops Production (kg) per Rural Household 2011/2012

Locality Sorghum Millet Sesame Cowpea Groundnut Vegetable

Asslam 1077 261 163 164 202 11

ED-Dueim 1055 0 70 15 0 164

EL-Jebalean 753 14 1 4 4 11

Kosti 1529 131 141 81 48 0

Rabak 1886 36 6 89 32 317

Tendelti 297 64 296 42 144 0

Total 1082 81 123 59 64 70

Data Source: The data collected by the authors’ survey

Table 5 above shows different species of crops that rural farmers is cultivating in the same season (season 2012,

during our surveying time), some cash crops like sesame and groundnut (Peanut), where farmer cultivated to increase his

income. Within table 6 bellow the result shows that comparing to the table 5 rural farmers prefer to sale cash crops

(Sesame and groundnut “peanut”) to increase income besides selling the surplus of some cereal crops e.g., sorghum, millet

and cowpea.etc, which is clear in tables 5 and 6 where household sale 44.5% as surplus of sorghum and consume 55.5% of

Food Accessibility, a Viability and Stability in Rural White Nile State of Sudan 49

it as staple crop food, selling 54.4% of their millet production and consume 45.6% as second staple crop and for pulses

rural farmers selling 51.2% of their pulse production and consume 48.8%, we found rural traditional farmer sale 90% of

their vegetable’s production and consume just 10% of their own production, so this result indicated that cereal grains and

pulse are the main staple food for rural household, as similar to FAO, (2011), which’s reported that in rural White Nile

State, per capita sales of cereal grains are disaggregated according to the nutritional security status of their producers, while

sometimes some portions of sales out of rural farmers production are almost similar for the food-secure and food-deprived.

Table 6: Shows the Average of Crops Sales (Kg) per Household by Locality Season 2011/2012

Locality Sorghum Millet Sesame Cowpea Groundnut Vegetable

Asslam 288.53 163.00 103.73 89.56 143.40 11.11

ED-Dueim 564.00 0.00 70.00 12.11 0.00 160.11

EL-Jebalean 251.78 8.58 0.00 0.53 2.67 10.04

Kosti 667.56 72.33 106.31 41.11 36.28 0.00

Rabak 991.47 1.50 5.87 39.40 27.17 253.07

Tendelti 141.17 26.67 250.93 14.17 86.82 0.00

Total 481.58 44.10 99.36 30.21 44.06 63.76

Data Source: The data collected by the authors’ survey

Food Accessibility and Stability

Food stability is describing all-time food access situation, traditional farmers in White Nile State produce staple

food grain as self consumption e.g. sorghum, millet, wheat and cowpea (lobia) and the surplus used for trade or feed

animals. In table 7 we had tried to explain the food consumption (basket food for rural households) for grains and some

other commodities per capita in the study area.

Table 7: Shows per Capita Food Consumption (kg) / Year for Different Food Groups by Locality

Locality Sorghum Millet Wheat Rice Cowpea Vegetable Potato Sugar Oil

Asslam 109.51 16.35 13.08 7.34 24.56 62.09 24.04 19.89 13.85

ED-Dueim 119.90 3.39 29.07 3.25 4.38 51.83 25.93 18.24 7.18

EL-Jebalean 97.65 7.94 25.13 7.38 8.59 104.91 27.16 20.34 8.33

Kosti 122.10 17.65 17.22 11.01 12.39 120.61 40.41 19.39 10.51

Rabak 103.84 7.96 35.69 10.33 10.74 134.83 50.93 19.45 8.06

Tendelti 98.13 17.88 17.43 8.75 18.52 110.57 40.40 18.06 11.56

Total 111.40 11.94 22.23 7.72 12.32 93.65 33.96 19.07 9.79

Data Source: The data collected by the authors’ survey

FAO statistics division on (2007) reported that cereal grains consumption as food over the world estimated 147.1

Kg annual consumption per capita and in North Africa people consume 212.3 Kg per capita of cereal grains excluding

processed cereal grains, that compared to our survey in similarity where we found that in rural white Nile of Sudan

households consume 153.29 Kg of cereal grains (sorghum, millet, wheat and rice) as annual consumption per capita. For

legume grains including (faba bean, dry bean, lentil and cowpea) consumption over the world FAO reported the annual

consumption per capita is 6.1 Kg and for North Africa is 7.5 Kg/year per capita, due to our survey we found that the annual

consumption of legume grains e.g., cowpea (lobia) in the study area in rural White Nile State is 12.32 Kg/year which

disagreed with FAO report (6.1Kg) and the consumption of legume grains is higher in proportion reach to 100% than the

world level rate that due to the farmer behavior where the often cultivating mainly cowpea traditionally for self

consumption and market, even the production cost for it is so low beside its consider as source of protein. Generally, we

can say the cereal grains and legume grains play an important role in contribution to the total food intake compared to the

others kind of food.

In other hand, we found that the consumption of vegetable (including potato) almost similar to the reported of

50 Abdel Sami Musa Ibrahim, Shiwei Xu & Wen Yu

FAO, (2011) where they mentioned the average of vegetable consumption in White Nile State is 93.9 Kg/year and our

result is 93.65 Kg/year and the rate consumption over world is 76.8 Kg/year, all that compared to the vegetable

consumption in North Africa is 212.8. Actually, some rural household in White Nile state facing difficult to access to

markets to buy fruits because the distance for those villagers is long lives in far away from the markets where they can buy

fruits, except some villages’ lies near city.

Through our experience the main sources of edible oil in the Sudan are sesame, cottonseed, groundnut and more

recently mainly in urban area sunflower. During our survey using questionnaire and getting some observation through

asking the respondent while we were filling the questionnaire, where our result illustrating that the edible oils consume for

the rural households in the study area is just using the oils which was produced from groundnut and sesame, and the rate of

oil consumption in rural area of White Nile state is in average 9.79 Kg/year per capita, where its agreed with Eltahir et al.

(2005) whose reported that the average Sudanese consumption of sesame oil with the popular meal, broad beans was

estimated 9.58 Kg/year per capita. In addition, to the FAO, (2011) mentioned that the vegetable edible oils the

consumption rate in White Nile state of Sudan is 10.9 kg/year per capita, which is almost close to our result 9.79 Kg/year

per capita. After cereal grains and oils, sugar made from sugar cane provided more kilocalories per capita per day on

average than other food groups FAO (2007). Also in (2011) it was reported that the sugar and sweet include jam and

biscuits consumption in White Nile State of Sudan estimated 39.2 kg/year while our survey estimate it in rural area as

19.07 kg/year per capita which is not similarity. Not far to our result explaining in table 8 where we calculate household

livestock production consumption, there we found that meat of mutton is almost equal to the consumption of beef meat,

and Rabak locality had the highest consumption to the beef meat per capita.

Table 8: Shows per Capita Livestock Production Consumption (kg)/Year by Locality

Locality Mutton Beef Chicken Egg Fish Milk

Asslam 6.01 4.29 3.01 1.04 1.06 69.38

ED-Dueim 4.71 6.12 0.9 1.12 0.21 75.26

EL-Jebalean 11.6 3.31 2.84 1.13 8.46 51.33

Kosti 5.14 5.38 5.12 2.25 14.84 58.32

Rabak 2.4 9.28 3.25 2.55 18.22 55.53

Tendelti 9.28 4.99 6.36 2.68 1.87 47.09

Total 6.41 5.43 3.57 1.77 6.78 60.96

Data Source: The data collected by the authors’ survey

Household Income

Income is a major determinant of food security. Household incomes are computed from the survey data as

comprising returns from: I) crop and crop residue; II) value of home-consumed farm products; III) livestock products and

sales of livestock; V) incomes from activities of all family members including household-heads’ off-farm activities; VI)

household savings credit. Data on each of these items is collected according to its period of occurrence and then converted

to annual income from which per capita income is computed with reference to family size. Overall, White Nile State is an

agricultural state of Sudan where the majority of economics activities of the households rely on agriculture and livestock

which is dominated as their main source of income. That due to the state location, on other hand, (WFP, 2009) reported

that 79% of population in White Nile state are food secure, 18% moderately food insecure and 3% are severely food

insecure. Here we can say through our experience, that the agricultural season affects directly the agricultural industry and

thus indirectly most facets of economic life in the area through lower demand of goods and services.

The results in figure 1 explain that the rural household in White Nile State of Sudan is in the lineup of highest sum

income belong to Asslam and Rabak localities followed by Kosti, Tendelti, ED-Dueim and EL-Jebalean which have the

Food Accessibility, a Viability and Stability in Rural White Nile State of Sudan 51

lowest sum income between localities. As in figure 1 sum income of rural household in study area influence by crops

production and price swings, where observe that livestock and salary almost same between localities while there crops we

found it had fluctuation mainly in the EL-Jebalean locality which had lower sum income among localities.

Where it’s agreed with USAID, (2002), which’s reported that farmer improved access to food through increasing

agricultural productivity and incomes is the essential major insurer of food security, where Agricultural productivity

includes measures across the entire shade of the food system which reduce food costs in real terms and increase incomes.

Where is agreed with (Elzaki, R.M.et al, 2010), he mentioned that excluding the food security, income and household

asset, they also could provide a high level of income through saving credit for those farmer lives close with cities.

SDG; Sudanese Gineih (Pound)

Figure 1: Explain Rural Household Annual Sum Income (in SDG) from Agricultural Activities

Household Expenditure

Expenditure is considered as indicator to assess the standard of food security of rural population in White Nile

State. In figure 2 we are trying to get an indicator about the expedition for food item and others expenditure in rural area of

White Nile State. WFP (2010) reported, due to the World Bank mentioned the sill for estimating vulnerability to shock in

terms of food access are set at 50% and 65% of expenditures spent on food items and below 50% is regarded as good and

over 65% of household income spent on food items is regarded as poor and where any change in food prices could have a

detrimental outcome.

In figure 2 the result explains that consumption expenditure is considered as indicator to assess the standard of

living of population, portrays the pattern of households’ consumption expenditure in the different localities. The

consumption expenditure has been classified into three groups: 1) “exp_food” The expenditure in food items consisted of

all consumable items whether of their own production or from the market. 2) “exp_nonfood” Non-food items comprised of

clothing, education, medicine and transport. 3) “exp_others” Other expenses inclusive of the socials. On the average of

which 70.4% was on food, the expenditure on food constituted the major component of households’ consumption pattern

as people preferred to spend more on food than other items, since their income is limited and they could not enhance their

consumption on other items.

8.5% of the expenditure on the non-food items, and 21.1% on the other expenditure. Where it’s agreed with

(Tomek & Robinson, 2003) reported that rural consumer expenditure patterns and estimates of expenditure can give an

indication of the potential for demand-led growth in a particular economy. An expenditure is a measure of the

responsiveness of expenditure on/or consumption of food items and non-food items which's can change the real income.

52 Abdel Sami Musa Ibrahim, Shiwei Xu & Wen Yu

SDG; is the Sudanese Gineih (Pound)

Data Source: the data collected by the authors’ survey

Figure 2: Shown the Average of Expenditure of Household for all Items per Capita by Locality

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Food Share

In this section we had tried to give a little illumination about the food share groups as in tables 9, which represent

the budget food share for 5 food groups named livestock production food, cereal grains food, vegetables food, Oils food

and sugar food group, respectively. Indeed, table 7 shows clearer that the staple food for the rural household in the study

area is sorghum and it is share cereal grains food more than 50% of the total household cereal grains food consumption

followed by wheat and rice, the less consumption in these food groups is millet, that is because of the pattern of traditional

agriculture where the farmers using local seeds variety beside there are poor of the cultivation technologies.

In the same way in table 9 we found that rural household in White Nile of Sudan consume red meat more than

white meat as in mutton and beef 0.27 and 0.25 respectively, beside the high consumption of milk per capita 0.33, that due

to the household food behavior in rural area where the environment more suitable for the rural farmer to breed animals as a

sign of wealth. The other food groups the result shown that rural household in the study area they consume peanut oil in

high rate as in 0.86. Alongside, they consume more sweets e.g. sugar in highest rate reaching 1 in average.

Table 9: Explaining the Summary of the Food Budget Share Groups and Variables Definition

Food Groups Variable Definition Observations Mean Standard Deviation

Livestock

production

w_mut Weight of mutton meat 360 0.27 0.22

w_beef Weight of beef meat 360 0.25 0.21

w_chi Weight of chicken meat 360 0.07 0.09

w_egg Weight of egg 360 0.03 0.05

w_fis Weight of fish meat 360 0.05 0.1

w_mil Weight of milk 360 0.33 0.17

Cereal Grains

w_sorg Weight of Sorghum 360 0.55 0.18

w_mill Weight of Millet 360 0.07 0.1

w_wheat Weight of Wheat 360 0.15 0.12

w_rice Weight of Rice 360 0.1 0.12

w_lobia Weight of cowpea (Lobia) 360 0.13 0.13

vegetables w_potat Weight of Potato 360 0.3 0.21

w_veget Weight of other vegetable 360 0.7 0.21

Oils w_peanut Weight of peanut oil 360 0.86 0.2

w_sesame Weight of sesame oil 360 0.14 0.2

Sugar and Sweets w_sugar Weight of sugar 360 1 0

Food Accessibility, a Viability and Stability in Rural White Nile State of Sudan 53

Self-Sufficientt and Market Rate

Grain production takes place in vast areas in rural areas of White Nile State under various farming systems and

production arrangements and consumption takes place in rural as well as urban centers, where potential consumers reside.

The urban consumption forms the main driving force for grain movement and often these centers are distant from

production sites. Trade is thus vital in channeling grains to final consumers, especially to sole consumers in urban center

(Musa, A., Abdelrahim, M., 2007),Where that was support our finding as clear in table 11 shows the summary of statistics

and definitions of some variables used in this paper where it can estimate self sufficient and market rates as one of the food

security indicators, here the results explaining that the households in the study area has an ability to produce food by them

self as (self sufficient) as it was clear in table 11 and figure 3 in the same time they has big desire to access and bought

different kinds of food goods from market mainly for many sub-food groups, where can give us indicator about how food

self production can influence the price of commodities for the consumers and enhancing the food consumption pattern in

the study area. in self-sufficient rate (ssr) for cereal grains group and livestock is higher than other food groups, among

which sorghum and milk are higher. For market rate, rural household bought more other cereal grains such as wheat, rice

and lobia from market than they produced. What most surprised is that rural household bought more meat and milk from

market. In fact, most of food relies on market, for most of the market rates are over 50%. Generally we say the small

farmers who account for the bulk of the producers in the White Nile State of Sudan produce grains primarily to meet home

consumption and then sell the marketable surplus.

Table 10: Shows the Summary of Statistical Analysis of Food Self Sufficient and Market Rate Used

Food Security Indicator Variable Variable Obs ssr_Mean mr_Mean

Self-sufficiency rate for

cereal grains and pulses

ssr_sorghum mr_sorghum 360 0.54 0.44

ssr_millet mr_millet 360 0.13 0.39

ssr_wheat mr_wheat 360 0.08 0.86

ssr_rice mr_rice 360 0.03 0.76

ssr_lobia mr_lobia 360 0.21 0.63

Self-sufficiency rate for

Livestock production.

ssr_mutton mr_mutton 360 0.01 0.73

ssr_beef mr_beef 360 0.00 0.80

ssr_chi mr_chi 360 0.12 0.42

ssr_egg mr_egg 360 0.22 0.29

ssr_milk mr_milk 360 0.30 0.66

ssr_fish mr_fish 360 0.10 0.31

Self-sufficiency rate for

Vegetables food.

ssr_veget mr_veget 360 0.05 0.92

ssr_potat mr_potat 360 0.01 0.85

Self-sufficiency rate for

Oil food.

ssr_gnut mr_gnut 360 0.17 0.82

ssr_sesam mr_sesam 360 0.14 0.29

Self-sufficiency rate for sugar ssr_sugar mr_sugar 360 0.00 1.00

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Advocacy to increase self-sufficiency rate from cereal grains mainly for all of the state population especially the

state have relative resource to produce more food. Encourage small farmers to cultivate vegetable and increase its self-

sufficiency rate. According to the land position and environment, guide farmer to realize industrial development. The food

security situation headway in the State will determine directly to the local and federal government policies and investment

choices made prior to the small farmers and stockholders themselves.

To address food security in the broadest sense in the White Nile State that could dealing not only with increases in

the production, productivity and the stability of food supplies, but also with some issues of access and all aspects of

agricultural and rural development related to food security, including farming systems, food processing, trade, marketing,

54 Abdel Sami Musa Ibrahim, Shiwei Xu & Wen Yu

credit, extension and the elimination of rural poverty, all that will be achieving through improving strong policies from

different levels. Generally, the federal government strategy and policies for food security will be direct toward to the food

supply and designed to increase incomes and purchasing power, especially of the poor vulnerable groups. These groups

could be identified as urban working poor, urban and rural displaced or handicapped, female-headed urban households,

female head rural household inhabitants of marginal area, poor nomads, resource poor rural household and inhabitants of

areas of conflict and civil insecurity.

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