Huge potential exists for large-scale commercial agriculture.

VAST tracts of agricultural land await cultivation in Sudan, which, together with Australia and Canada, has been identified as one of three countries that could help solve the world’s food problems.

The potential for turning it into the breadbasket of Africa and the Arab world was recognized long ago, but the civil war made it impossible to realize. Peace brings the opportunity to develop the huge resources available.

Sudan has approximately 200 million acres of arable land, of which only around 30 million are presently being farmed. It also has water resources, forests of teak and other hardwoods, livestock numbered at more than 100 million heads, and fishery reserves put at 120,000 tons.

“We have plenty of resources. In that sense, Sudan is not poor at all, but it has never had the time to develop them,” says Anne Itto Leonardo, State Minister of Agriculture.

Agriculture is the mainstay of the Sudanese economy, accounting for 45 percent of gross domestic product. Products such as cotton, gum arabic, cattle, meat, oil seeds, sorghum, vegetables, and fruits make up 90 percent of exports.

ANNE ITTO LEONARDO State Minister of Agriculture	ABDIN MOHAMED ALI Director General of the Sudan Cotton Company Ltd.

Most farming is of the subsistence variety, and there is enormous scope for the development of commercial agriculture, particularly in southern Sudan. As most Sudanese live in rural areas, and are either employed in farming or depend on it for their food security and livelihood, a boost for agriculture would also make a major contribution to alleviating poverty.

Foreign investment is also vital, says Dr. Leonardo. “Investment is key,” says Dr. Leonardo. “Without investment in the right areas, we cannot produce the right quantity or quality and we cannot compete.”

However, it must be in the right areas. She explains, “We are not aiming only at producing enough food, but would like to take the agricultural sector towards a more competitive market.”

Most of the country's light industry is used to process agricultural resources, and the government is eager to develop value-added production.

A leading cash crop is cotton, more than 90 percent of which is grown in large, state-managed irrigation schemes, including the Gezira Irrigation Scheme, one of the biggest in the world.

Abdin Mohamed Ali, Director General of the private Sudan Cotton Company, believes that the chances of reviving production are very good. “Now is the time to regain the momentum. The challenge is to use the most modern and technical methods,” he says.

Once a state firm, Sudan Cotton Company is now more like a cooperative, being majority owned by the cotton farmers themselves, with the National Pension Fund and the Farmers Commercial Bank constituting the remaining shareholders. “We are a channel for marketing their producers’ cotton. We try to maximize their benefit and find the highest international price we can get,” Eng. Ali explains.

The company also makes money through import, transportation, and other services, and has plans for other business activities in the future, including producing edible oils and fertilizers.

“We have also been talking to investors about cotton ginneries. Nearly all of those in operation have outlived their usefulness; the newest is about 30 years old. So this is an area where we badly need rehabilitation and replacement.”