Farmers donate 100 tonnes of wheat for Sudan food crisis

A group of farmers from the NSW Riverina are attempting to ship their wheat to Africa. (ABC Landline)

When Ken Dachi recognised the crop, considered a delicacy in his home country of Kenya, he knew he was in the right spot.

That spot was Rob Houghton's farm at Leeton, in the New South Wales Riverina, but as Mr Dachi might say, this is not a story of geography, but rather one about a human response.

Mr Dachi works for not-for-profit Welcoming Australia, promoting diversity and social cohesion.

Mr Houghton, a third-generation irrigator, grows cotton, wheat and, on occasion, mung bean crops.

"There wouldn't be too many combinations like it," Mr Houghton says of the friendship.

Most weeks, Mr Houghton and Mr Dachi break bread in the kitchen at the farm, the former preparing the meals, the latter responsible for washing up.

Rob Houghton is a third-generation farmer in Leeton. (ABC Landline)

Jenny Houghton will typically leave her husband and his friend to it.

"I love it, but it's full on between the two of them," she says.

So what do these two extroverts from opposite sides of the globe talk about over mung beans, lamb chops, steak or whatever it might be?

Sometimes it is the farm or the season, but lately there has been a singular focus.

That is on how the pair plans to ship 100 tonnes of wheat from Leeton to Sudan.

Ken Dachi and Rob Houghton called on their neighbours to donate grain. (ABC Landline: Tim Lee)

"Grain of Hope is the name of both the organisation and the campaign and the idea is to respond to the global hunger crisis," Mr Dachi says of the organisation launched with a small and dedicated committee.

"It was designed around starvation in Africa, particularly Sudan, where … the displacement camps were getting overpopulated with people who were assessed as having acute starvation, which means you don't know where your next feed's coming from for up to seven to 10 days," Mr Houghton adds.

A civil war has forced more than 11.5 million people from their homes in Sudan. The World Food Programme estimates 19 million people, or two out of five Sudanese people, face acute food insecurity.

"[I've] never been able to understand why there are people starving in the world when we produce so much in this part of the world, but in other parts of the world as well," Mr Houghton says.

Silos on Rob Houghton's farm hold the wheat to be sent to Sudan. (ABC Landline)

Most people would not look twice at the stainless steel structure, but when Mr Houghton looks at it, he sees enough grain to feed tens of thousands of people for a month.

"Rob just sa