Khartoum Says It Lost Up to 80% of Its Herds

SUDAN · KHARTOUM · ECONOMY

Khartoum state, home to Sudan’s capital, says the war has wiped out between 69% and 80% of its livestock herd. Its agriculture chief gave the figure at a meeting with the federal Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, which published it on Sunday, 18 October, with a call for urgent help to compensate herders and rebuild the sector.

The loss reaches beyond farming, because Khartoum’s high-yield hybrid dairy cows took about half a century to breed and supplied the capital’s milk. Their collapse adds a food problem to a war the US State Department has called the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe.

What Khartoum Told the Ministry

The delegation was led by Sir al-Khatim Fadl al-Mawla, Khartoum’s director general of agriculture and livestock and its acting minister. It met Ammar al-Sheikh Idris, undersecretary and top civil servant of the federal ministry, which serves the army-led government of Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

According to the ministry’s statement, the state reported losing 69% to 80% of its herd “during the past period” and called for urgent action. The statement does not say which animals the figure covers, what baseline it uses or how they were counted.

The state listed lost veterinary hospitals, laboratories and clinics, missing vaccines and too few staff. It asked for working feed mills, a new feed factory and support “especially from international organizations” for food programs.

A Dairy Belt Emptied by War

The new range fits earlier official estimates. In May, Idris told the Sudanese site Ultra Sudan that Khartoum’s milk-producing cows had fallen from 300,000 before the war to fewer than 70,000 by a preliminary count, a drop of more than three quarters.

In July he told the Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat that about 80% of the capital’s prewar hybrid cows had been stolen, and blamed the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The RSF is the paramilitary led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, that has fought the army since 15 April 2023.

The cows were crosses with Holstein Friesian dairy breeds, built up over five decades by artificial insemination. A veterinary professor told the same paper that regaining prewar levels could take decades, because the lost bloodlines had adapted to Sudan’s climate.

Poultry, Feed and the Federal Plan

The meeting warned that poultry farming is deteriorating because some states block sorghum, a feed grain, from leaving, while diesel, electricity and feed prices rise. The Ministry of Finance has allowed poultry feed imports as an emergency fix.

Idris proposed a standing federal and state committee on animal health, imports and fisheries, chaired by the ministry’s epidemics chief, Nadia al-Dirdiri. On 13 October the ministry announced a five-year emergency plan for 2027 to 2031 to rebuild livestock and fisheries.

What It Means for US Readers

Khartoum’s appeal is addressed to international organizations, the aid agencies that the United States and other donors fund. It adds to a famine that the State Department said had hit 638,000 Sudanese by January 2025, with more than 30 million needing aid.

For sanctions watchers, the losses add to the charges against the RSF. On 7 January 2025 the State Department determined that RSF fighters had committed genocide and sanctioned Hemedti.

For diplomats, restocking depends on peace. On 12 September 2025 the United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates called for a three-month humanitarian truce, but no lasting ceasefire has followed.

What Prediction Markets Say

On Polymarket, a contract on a Sudan civil war ceasefire by 31 December 2026 was quoted at about 11 cents at 12:50 a.m. ET on 19 October, which reads as an 11% chance. It has drawn about US$15,000 in bets, and its price has barely moved in a month.

Earlier contracts on a ceasefire by the end of 2025 and by 30 June 2026 both settled at no. Across all its dates, the series has drawn about US$120,000 in bets.

Why we show this: prediction markets turn real-money bets into a live probability that moves within minutes of the news, which is why investors, campaigns and newsrooms in the United States now follow them closely. We show them next to polls and official results, never instead of them.

What Is Not Known

The statement does not say whether the range covers cattle only or also goats, sheep and camels, or how many animals were stolen, killed or moved away. Idris said in May that no real estimate of national losses existed, because the count was still under way.

No cost figure or dollar request was published, and no international agency has publicly answered the appeal. It is also unclear how the five-year plan will be paid for.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much livestock has Khartoum lost?

Khartoum state puts its loss at between 69% and 80% of its livestock herd during the war that began in April 2023. Sudan’s federal livestock ministry made the figure public on 18 October 2026 after meeting a delegation from the state.

Why does the loss of Khartoum’s cows matter?

Many were high-yield hybrid dairy cows bred over about 50 years to suit Sudan’s climate. Their loss has largely shut the capital’s dairy industry and could take years or decades to reverse.

Who is blamed for the losses?

A senior Sudanese livestock official has blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for stealing most of Khartoum’s hybrid cows. Experts also cite deaths caused by missing veterinary care and the destruction of farms and laboratories.

What help is Khartoum asking for?

The state wants urgent federal and international support to compensate herders and rebuild slaughterhouses, veterinary clinics, laboratories and feed mills. No dollar figure for the request has been published.

What does this mean for the United States?

The appeal is aimed at international aid agencies that the United States and other donors fund, in a war Washington has tried to pause with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The US also sanctioned the RSF’s leader after finding in January 2025 that the RSF committed genocide.

Sources: Sudan Tribune, Khartoum loses 80% of its livestock (Arabic), 18 October 2026, Abu Wadaha News, text of the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries statement (Arabic), 18 October 2026, Tryag News, Khartoum losses of 69% to 80% (Arabic), 18 October 2026, Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, five-year emergency plan 2027 to 2031 (Arabic), 13 October 2026, Ultra Sudan, interview with undersecretary Ammar al-Sheikh (Arabic), 18 May 2026, Asharq Al-Awsat, war wipes out Sudan’s improved cattle (Arabic), 2 July 2026, US Department of State, genocide determination in Sudan, 7 January 2025, US Department of State, Quad joint statement on Sudan, 12 September 2025. All retrieved 19 October 2026. Prediction-market prices: Polymarket public data, 19 October 2026, 12:50 a.m. ET.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief