Economics of Crop Production in the Gezira Irrigation Scheme

Economics of Crop Production in the Gezira Irrigation Scheme Sam L. Laki Central State University, Ohio Sudan Economy In the last two decades, Sudan experienced its worst food crisis as a result of drought, bad macroeconomic policies, poor management, inadequate infrastructure, civil war, and a huge foreign debt. These problems are closely linked to the performance of the Gezira Irrigation Scheme, which is oriented towards the production of cotton for export. The Gezira Scheme possesses a high productive potential that can be realized through the use of sound fiscal, monetary, agricultural, and trade policies. Lack of adequate agricultural research, appropriate technology suitable to the local environment, and inappropriate economic development policies have impeded increased agriculture production and provision of adequate food supplies. Sudan attempted to mobilize revenue for economic development through high taxes on agricultural commodities and farm income, especially on export crops whose prices are easily subjected to official controls—gum arabic and cotton. The belief was that an increased government role in production and development would improve the national economy (Laki, 1992a). The government is heavily involved in production and marketing decisions. The government preference for controls prevents the private sector from competing with or complementing the inefficient state monopolies. The excessive state controls have depressed the prices of domestic agricultural commodities relative to manufactures, discouraged increased agriculture production and reduced farmers incentives to produce. The stagnant agriculture has failed to generate foreign exchange, cheap food supplies and aggregate savings that could be used to spur the growth of the economy (World Bank, 1990a).® Northeast African Studies (ISSN 0740-9133) Vol. 3, No. 3 (New Series) 1996, pp. 7-25 8 Sam L. Laki The Gezira Irrigation Scheme The Gezira plain, which lies between the Blue and White Niles is suitable for irrigated farming. This is because the clay soil allows little water loss and the gentle slope requires very little investment in leveling and canal lining. Rainfall in the Gezira is about 300 mm per annum. The Gezira Irrigation Scheme is fed by gravity irrigation from the Blue Nile. The total area is 2.1 million feddans (one feddan = 0.42 hectares), 1.2 million feddans in the Gezira and 0.9 million feddans in the Managil extension which was established in 1957 following the construction of the Roseires dam. The Gezira Scheme represents 47 percent of the total irrigated area and 10 percent of the total arable area under crop production in the Sudan. The Gezira faces major government interventions that include mandating cropping patterns, provision of irrigation water, land management practices, fertilizer application, and the setting of input and output prices for wheat and cotton. The Sudan Gezira Board (SGB), a public parastatal, deducts the cost of providing services for the production of groundnuts and sorghum from the cotton proceeds. Because sorghum and groundnuts are privately marketed and input costs cannot be recovered at sale, cotton becomes less attractive to the tenants since it has to bear the burden of land and water charges for sorghum and groundnuts production. SGB mandates the crops and crop varieties grown under rotation which are cotton and groundnuts for export, wheat for import substitution and sorghum for local consumption. The Gezira practices a four course rotation: Cotton-Wheat-Groundnuts/Sorghum-Fallow. It has a planned cropping intensity of 75 percent. The rotation system imposed on the tenants by the government takes into consideration technical but not economic factors. The only decision left to the tenants is whether to grow groundnuts or sorghum on the 25 percent of the tenancy. Most of the tenants prefer to grow sorghum because it is a subsistence crop and has lower production costs (Laki, 1992a). The major problems facing the Gezira tenants include poor operation and maintenance, bad management, shortage of equipment, shortage of skilled manpower, commodity price controls, late delivery of inputs, and lack of proven technology for groundnuts. Economies of Crop Production 9 Study Objectives The three objectives of this study are: 1.To identify the main constraints facing Gezira tenants. 2.To evaluate the economic viability of the Gezira Irrigation Scheme. 3.To evaluate the alternative public policies designed to raise farm productivity in the Gezira Scheme. Literature Review Faki (1982...