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National food security has been a major policy goal in Sudan since the country gained its independence in 1956. One of the fundamental reasons is to ensure the social welfare for people living in rural areas. In this study we aimed to analyse how farmers secure their food and generate income in the semi-arid Sennar state in Sudan, using two selected sites, El Dali and El Mazmum, as examples. We interviewed 281 randomly sampled household heads, of which 145 at El Dali and 136 at El Mazmum, between July and November 2011. We identified four distinct land use systems, of which three consist of monocropping and one of cultivation in agroforestry parklands. Several statistical techniques and economic analysis were applied on the study data. Our results show that, in the two areas, the highest average yields over a 10-year period for the three crops studied, sorghum, pearl millet and sesame, were achieved in agroforestry system, except for the case of sesame at El Mazmum. Economic returns for the farmers, as indicated by net present value or benefit/cost ratio, followed the same pattern. The study concludes that farmers should rely more on agroforestry to improve their food security and cash income generation. Land use and land right policies, which currently discourage farmers from growing trees on their lands, should be revised, so as to give more incentive to them to adopt ecologically and economically more sustainable land use practices.