JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia and the UAE have sent a ship carrying 50,000 tons of fertilizer to Sudan. The aid, which left Jubail in the Kingdom for Port Sudan, will “urgently save the agricultural season in the country and help farmers,” the Saudi Press Agency reported. The fertilizer was an extension of the $3 billion financial support already provided by Saudi Arabia and the UAE to the country, including a $500 million deposit into the Central Bank of Sudan. The aid is to support the economy and ease pressure on the Sudanese pound, SPA said. Sudan has been embroiled in months of turmoil after a deep economic crisis engulfed the country last year. Protests forced President Omar Al-Bashir from power in April after decades in at the helm of the country and a military transitional council reached a power sharing deal with the main opposition alliance this month. SPA said the urea fertilizer would help the Sudanese people during the current crisis and ease the burden on Sudanese farmers “given that agriculture is a major source of income for a large number of the population.”