Merge pull request #398 from nasaharvest/crop_info_iman

Create README.md

maps/Sudan/README.md

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+# Sudan
+
+## Preliminary Information
+
+<!-- References -->
+[1]: https://www.britannica.com/place/Sudan
+[2]: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-024-01883-y
+[3]: https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/8a52a8c7-cef5-4578-95cf-a4f2616bb0c8/content
+[4]: https://ipad.fas.usda.gov/countrysummary/default.aspx?id=SU
+[5]: https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/ac5e9277-20a8-40fc-b7d5-5f921a7d661d/content
+[6]: https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/9cf3665e-d98c-45c2-af03-06404460b9e0/content
+
+### Admin Zones:
+<img src="https://www.worldatlas.com/upload/bb/90/16/states-of-sudan-map.png" />
+
+### Geography <sup>[1]</sup>
+- Northeastern Africa
+- Capital: Khartoum
+- Population: 47,653,000
+- The Nile River is the dominant geographical feature, with all streams and rivers of Sudan draining into the Nile.
+
+### Climatology <sup>[1]</sup>
+<img src="https://api.intechopen.com/media/chapter/a043Y00000yuj6sQAA/a09Tc0000002e7pIAA/media/F1.png" />
+
+- North is arid with little to no rainfall
+- Central and southern regions of Sudan have rainy seasons
+- The central and eastern region max annual temp: 90s to 100s F
+- In the west and northwest region max annual temp: 80s to 90s F
+
+
+## Sudan Agriculture
+
+### In peacetime, impacts to agriculture include:
+- Climate change and depletion of natural resources
+- Overdependence on rainfed production systems
+- Poorly maintained irrigation and drainage systems and farmers limited skills in modern farming practices
+- Limited access to agricultural inputs (e.g. seeds and fertilizer) and inadequate farming technologies and management
+
+### Information on the conflict in Sudan <sup>[2]</sup>
+<img src="https://media.springernature.com/lw685/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41562-024-01883-y/MediaObjects/41562_2024_1883_Fig1_HTML.png?as=webp" />
+
+- The recent outbreak of conflict began on April 15, 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces
+- The conflict has exacerbated the challenges faced by the Sudanese agricultural sector.
+- As a consequence of the conflict, food security has worsened and the population is facing a humanitarian crisis
+
+### Stats following the outbreak of conflict (according to FAO 2023 Response Overview) <sup>[3]</sup>
+- 24.7 million people, including 14 million children, in need of humanitarian assistance and protection
+- 20.3 million people in high acute food insecurity
+- 3.5 million children under 5 years of age acutely malnourished
+- Nearly 5.8 million people have been displaced since the war erupted
+- 4.6 million people internally displaced
+- Nearly 1.2 million crossing into neighboring countries
+- 60–80% of the population relies on agriculture as a main source of food and income
+
+### Sudan crop calendar <sup>[4]</sup>
+<img src="https://ipad.fas.usda.gov/countrysummary/images/SU/cropcalendar/eafrica_su_calendar.png" />
+
+- Sudan has two cropping seasons including the main season from May to September and the second season from November to March when irrigation is typically used.
+- Sudan’s main crops include cotton, millet, sorghum, peanut, and wheat.
+- The main subsistence crops are sorghum (highest produced) and millet as well as wheat, corn, and barley.
+
+### Farming Practices <sup>[5]</sup> <sup>[6]</sup>
+- Since 95% of Sudan's agriculture is rainfed, crop production relies on a good temporal distribution of annual rainfall
+- The White and Blue Niles are important for irrigation as these areas produce the bulk of the country’s commercial crops
+- Heavy rainfall and flash floods damage the already poorly maintained irrigation systems by flooding the canals and crop land
+- Inadequate coordination and slow decision-making processes in the management of the irrigation schedules, is to blame for untimely irrigations and consequently crop production losses.
+- Farmers have been reported (by FAO 2022) to have used seeds retained from the previous year's harvest due to the limited seed distributions by state authorities and the high market prices.
+- Agricultural operations are often delayed when agricultural machinery is not available in adequate numbers for renting, which causes operational costs to skyrocket.
+
+### Crop Losses 2023 <sup>[3]</sup>
+- Most reported difficulty from farmers was the higher than usual price of seeds and crop pests and diseases
+- According to the FAO, in 2023 the main season had a total planted area of all crops estimated to be 15 percent lower than the annual average during the summer season