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Abandoned tanks in Darfur, Sudan

The funds will see 2.5 million hungry Sudanese people and refugees from neighbouring states be provided with food assistance, including fortified foods for malnourished children under five years old and for pregnant or breastfeeding women.

USAID said the effects of one of the strongest El-Niño weather patterns on record had resulted in below-average plantings and harvests in Sudan.

El-Niño is a natural weather pattern that results in the cyclical warming of the tropical Pacific, playing havoc with weather across the globe.

The lean season in Sudan, where farmers and their families are less able to grow food, is also set to start two months early this year, which USAID said would exacerbate humanitarian needs.

The projected number of acutely food-insecure people in the country is likely to reach 4.5m in the peak of this year’s lean season.

USAID’s contribution will also deliver emergency school feeding programmes and food distributions to the most vulnerable populations.

Ongoing fighting inside Sudan and neighbouring countries has increased the number of displaced people and refugees suffering from food insecurity in the country.

Over 360,000 refugees now reside there, with 190,000 of those being South Sudanese refugees who have crossed the border fleeing violence in their own country.

South Sudan is also suffering a food crisis, with aid workers battling to get food to the hardest-to-reach communities before the rainy season, which would cut many of them off.

Fighting inside Sudan has displaced approximately 4.3 million people internally.