ISSN 2320-5407 International Journal of Advanced Research (2016), Volume 4, Issue 5, 455-469 455 Journal homepage: http://www.journalijar.com INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL Journal DOI: 10.21474/IJAR01 OF ADVANCED RESEARCH RESEARCH ARTICLE Role of Rural Women in Sustaining Household Food Supplies in Western Sudan. Mohamed Ahamed Osman Ibnouf 1 and Fatma Osman Ibnouf 2 . 1. Mohamed Ahamed Osman Ibnouf is an associate professor at Faculty of Agricultural Studies, Sudan University of Science and Technology, Sudan 2. Fatma Osman Ibnouf is an assistant professor and researcher at Development Studies and Research Institute, University of Khartoum, Sudan. Manuscript Info Abstract Manuscript History: Received: 18 March 2016 Final Accepted: 18 April 2016 Published Online: May 2016 Key words: Rural Women, Gender, Household Food Supplies, Rural Sudan, Food policy *Corresponding Author Mohamed Ahamed Osman Ibnouf. In the context of rural Western Sudan, where recurrent droughts, socio- economic problems, conflicts, and males‟ outmigration, recognition of role women in household food security is a particularly important. The study aimed to assess rural women‟s contribution to sustain household food supplies, and thus valuing the potential role of women in achieving household food security. Employing primary and secondary data, the study argues that rural women play a crucial role in sustaining foods for smoothing their household consumption, thus, they contribute more to achieve household food security, more likely than men do. This study indicates that food preparation, processing and preservation, and the daily food consumption quantity and quality are exclusively women responsibilities. The work of rural women as food producer and provider is lack recognition and assessment and thus support and assistance. Understanding the actual contribution of rural men and women in household food security will help designing policies and programs to address the challenges of food security in Western Sudan. The status of rural women as food provider can be enhanced and empowered through adoption of supportive national food policy. Copy Right, IJAR, 2016,. All rights reserved. Introduction:- Data on women's contributions to agricultural production is increasing; however, there is still a lack of sex- disaggregated data on women‟s contribution to household food security in Sudan. One reason for underreported women contribution to food security could be that the data do not account for many of women's productive activities. Unaccounted women contribution to food security include activities such as home gardening (known locally juburaka), animals rearing, and post-harvest activities of agriculture and animal products (processing and preservation). Additionally, while women usually perform field cultural activities, these roles may be counted under 'helpers', unpaid family laborers, rather than as actual contributors to household‟s economy. Women‟s productive work in the Sudan, such as agricultural labour, tends to be perceived as an extension to their household duties (Osman, 2002, p. 24). Development policies affect women and men differently, and influences gender relationships, regarding women as beneficiaries and as such, they do not enjoy an equal position with their male counterparts. Rural areas in Western Sudan were affected by the natural hazards, socio-economic problems and civil conflicts. Consequence of these risks has a considerable gendered impacts and differentiable gender workloads and roles. Not many attempts have been made in food security literature to link these risks and circumstances in a systematic way to gendered consequences. Among gender impacts of these crises are their impacts on responsibility to achieve household food security as men and women respond differently to these risks. Examples of these: (1) while rural men have more possibilities to migrate outside the risk areas, rural women are usually less mobile, and as consequence, women‟s role may become more important as producers of subsistence for families. (2) Shifts in the labor market, where men are taking earrings that are more rewarding than those activities taken by women who are