What ails Sudan’s agricultural sector

Turki Faisal Al-Rasheed Arab News

Saudi Arabia is in a better position to forge politico-economic partnerships with other countries with a view to achieving food security. The best partner in this respect is Sudan, known as the food basket of the Arab world. But foreigners are reluctant to invest in Sudan and the efforts made by the Sudanese government to overcome this reluctance have not met with much success. Under the deteriorating global situation, Arab countries that have agricultural potential, notably Sudan, have to bring in modern technologies and look for the best of encouraging agricultural investment and offering incentives to achieve this aim.

Why not? Sudan is blessed with fertile agricultural lands (more than 200 million acres). Only 20 percent of these lands are being utilized. Abundant irrigation facilities are also available (river waters including that of the Nile, rain waters and underground water). Furthermore, Sudan has a variety of weather (from 30 to 48 degrees centigrade), ranging from desert, and Mediterranean, savanna and Equatorial weather. There are different kinds of plantations and favorable environment for natural growth of various plants and agricultural products (farm and horticulture).

There are ample natural pastures and animal wealth while rainfall allows the growth of forests and woods. But despite the availability of suitable environment for growing various seeds, there are problems such as:

• Insufficient care given to seeds;

• No use of sprays and no exploitation of underground water for irrigation of plants in case of shortage of rainfall and during dry seasons.

• Lack of full mechanization in cultivation, harvesting, peeling, cleaning and packing; fertilizers and insecticides are applied in old ways.

• Lack of a plan for improving seeds and not using improved varieties of seeds.
• Sudan’s domestic problems have been internationalized, giving the impression of political instability in the country. This discourages investors.

• There is no clear ownership policy. The land ownership system is based on land lease, that is the right of benefiting from the land for a specific number of years. Therefore there is no incentive to attract huge projects.

• The agricultural lands lie adjacent to the oil excavation areas and it is quite possible that the government may suddenly discover that the land given to an investor is located over an oil well and may confiscate it and give the investor another land. This means wasting the efforts, time and money of the investors.

• Sudan is a country of shantytowns and people are settling in areas the government wants to award to investors. This means the investors will have to pay money for resettling the people living near the lands awarded to them.

• The investors are also obliged to provide water to these people from the wells drilled by them for agricultural projects.

• The proposed areas for investment lack the necessary infrastructural facilities, and this increases the investment costs, especially in transportation and energy.
• There are any number of administrative fees, especially in the states. This is apart from those imposed by the central government. Consequently, the investors are confused as to whom they should deal with.

To sum up:

Sudan is in need of huge companies to invest in the agricultural lands in an ideal way. As noted above, lands suitable for agriculture are more than 200 million acres with less than 20 percent under use.

In the past, Sudan used to export large quantities of peanuts and it has quit the overseas markets due to the above-mentioned factors.

Sudan imports two million tons of wheat, its staple food, annually. This can’t be justified when 160 million acres are available for cultivation.

The virgin land becomes barren when left uncultivated.

Huge agricultural investments will go a long way toward reducing unrest in Sudan. Investments in huge agricultural projects boost national income, reduce import bill (for agricultural products), provide a healthy, safe and permanent source of food, preserve the honor of the state and its people and protect the country against foreign intervention and economic pressures. All this means that senior Sudanese officials in charge of regulating agricultural investment system must reconsider the existing policies by eliminating their negative aspects and adding more incentives to attract national and foreign investors. The policies should be in accordance with the interests and ambitions of investors. Sudan should not allow a situation to continue where the virgin and fertile lands become barren while the government has to depend on imports to feed its hungry people.

— Turki Faisal Al-Rasheed is a Saudi writer.