Summary In the case of Sudan, the politics of agrarian crisis grew out of, but differs from, the normal politics of agricultural marketing. From the imposition of colonial rule crop marketing structures have transformed peasant farming and subjected it to control by the state and by merchants. Market relations have also generated structural pressures on peasant farming and social conflicts in peasant communities. In response to the pressures, peasant farmers have exhausted the natural and labour resources at their disposal and found themselves exposed to a deeper level of crisis. Peasant farmers in Sudan have begun to react in new ways which go beyond adjusting their deployment of labour and land resources to market relations; they have begun to challenge the political foundations of these relations.