Qualla: Al Qadarif State

Al Qadarif State: Introduction

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Saeed Habib Saleh, CC BY-SA 4.0. The rain makes the difference. From 500 to 600 millimeters fall here in a typical year, enough that Al Qadarif State can grow crops without irrigation on an almost industrial scale. The dark clay soil stretches from the eastern slopes of the Ethiopian plateau down to the seasonal rivers and valleys of eastern Sudan, and on those 75,263 square kilometers about 2.2 million people lived before Sudan's current war began - farmers, herders, traders, and the descendants of waves of migrants from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Yemen, Somalia, Chad, Egypt, and beyond. They call it Sudan's granary. When the war came in 2023, that granary also became a refuge.

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Image: Saeed Habib Saleh | CC BY-SA 4.0

Al Qadarif State: A Crossroads Population

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Saeed Habib Saleh, CC BY-SA 4.0. Al Qadarif State's demographic map reads like a history of the Horn of Africa. The state's population includes Sudanese from many tribes along with communities descended from Eritrean, Ethiopian, Yemeni, Somali, Chadian, Egyptian, Armenian, and Kurdish migrants who arrived during...

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Image: Saeed Habib Saleh | CC BY-SA 4.0

Al Qadarif State: The Granary

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Barri zzy, CC BY-SA 4.0. Mechanized agriculture arrived here in 1945 and changed everything. Today Al Qadarif hosts some of Sudan's largest rainfed agricultural projects, with 7,162,133 hectares of arable land and tractors, combine harvesters, and large-capacity grain silos organizing the harvest at indu...

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Image: Barri zzy | CC BY-SA 4.0

Al Qadarif State: Belts of Land

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Saeed Habib Saleh, CC BY-SA 4.0. Local planners divide the state into distinct agricultural belts, each with its own soil and rainfall regime. The Dry Agriculture Belt in the north gets 500 to 600 millimeters of rain on Ptrepettha mud. The Rainfed Agriculture Belt, about 2.96 million acres, has clay soil on flat...

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Image: Saeed Habib Saleh | CC BY-SA 4.0

Al Qadarif State: Cattle Country

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Saeed Habib Saleh, CC BY-SA 4.0. Livestock numbers rival the crops. About five million head of cattle graze Al Qadarif's pastures year-round, and that number swells to around seven million during the rainy season when seasonal pasture draws herders from neighboring states. Shepherds arrive with their animals, gr...

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Image: Saeed Habib Saleh | CC BY-SA 4.0

Al Qadarif State: Industry and Services

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Saeed Habib Saleh, CC BY-SA 4.0. The industrial base of Al Qadarif is almost entirely derived from its agriculture: sesame oil, peanut products, soap, sweets, and sunflower processing. Workshops assemble tractors and combine harvesters and offer repair services, while lathes produce spare parts that would otherw...

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Image: Saeed Habib Saleh | CC BY-SA 4.0

Al Qadarif State: The War That Came

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Saeed Habib Saleh, CC BY-SA 4.0. In April 2023, Sudan's war between the army and the Rapid Support Forces began in Khartoum and cascaded across the country. Al Qadarif, relatively far from the initial fighting, quickly became one of Sudan's largest refuges for internally displaced people. By 2024, the state shel...

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Image: Saeed Habib Saleh | CC BY-SA 4.0