Sudan
Hoyle, S.
The developing agriculture of the Middle East Opportunities and prospects: 65-74
1976
DOI: 10.2307/25812956Document Number: 425605
The Sudan has a vast agricultural potential, with only 16 million of its estimated cultivable area of over 200 million acres being at present used. The basic trends of development and expansion were established during the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium: the emphasis on irrigated agriculture development, the pre-eminent position of cotton and the emphasis on development in the north; and these trends have been largely followed. There has, however, been a move away from the predominance of irrigated agriculture and also from a one-crop economy, due to the recession in world cotton prices. Until recently financial aid has come from many sources, but now investment comes mainly from the Arab countries. Private investment is also being encouraged. Recent AFESD plans promote the Sudan as the possible "breadbasket" of the Arab world, able to provide 40% of Middle East food requirements by 2000. The Sudan also has 40% of the livestock of the Arab countries as a whole. Plans for further development include: (1) Expansion of the cultivated area of the North, particularly the Central Clay Plain; (2) the utilization and expansion of the hither-to untapped resources of the South; (3) the expansion and greater commercialization of the livestock sector; (4) the greater use of mechanization in agricultural production; (5) the expansion of agro-industries such as cotton spinning, sugar refining and oil milling. Apart from adequate finance, another essential prerequisite for such national development is a vastly improved transport infrastructure, and several projects connected with this are already underway.