By Abbas Nazil
The agricultural sector in Sudan’s El Gezira Scheme, particularly the Managil Extension Project, is facing a near-total collapse after enduring three consecutive seasons without a successful harvest due to conflict, economic instability, and administrative failure.
Farmers across the region are describing a painful situation marked by soaring prices for seeds and fertilisers, the breakdown of irrigation systems, lack of equipment, and the complete absence of both government and banking support.
Many, like farmer Mustafa from the eastern part of the island, have been forced to abandon wheat cultivation due to the unavailability of essential inputs and turn to vegetable farming, despite no official assistance and repeated seasonal failures.
He explained that the decline in cultivated areas is significant, even though no precise figures exist, and stressed that the project still holds great potential if basic resources like canal cleaning, fertiliser supplies, and start-up funding are provided quickly.
Farmer Omar El Nima Arbab, from the Kuwait District Office, recalled how crops like beans, corn, and wheat had once yielded up to 30 and 12 sacks per acre respectively, before conflict reached Wad Madani.
He pointed out that input delivery had become unreliable, planting was delayed, and flooding caused by poorly maintained canals has wiped out fields.
Even after the city was retaken, progress remained slow, as canal obstructions and lack of cleaning machinery threatened to submerge large areas.
He added that prices of seeds and fertilisers have surged beyond what ordinary farmers can afford, and while fuel is available, the machines needed to clean and prepare fields are not.
With agricultural management either missing or indifferent, many farmers have walked away from their land, rented it out, or left it unproductive.
Hussein Saad, once an active farmer in the region, confirmed that this is now the third season without a harvest for many.
He explained that fertiliser, which once cost 20,000 Sudanese pounds, now sells for over 120,000, while the cost of ploughing one acre has tripled.
He reminisced about the successful 2019–2020 season under the transitional government, when farmers were able to plant over half a million acres thanks to funding from the Agricultural Bank.
Today, the bank has withdrawn its support completely, especially in areas like El Kamlin and Abu Ashar, where agricultural supplies were looted.
Farmers have also been subjected to extortion by armed groups demanding high “harvest fees” and imposing severe fines.
Agricultural offices have been destroyed, and previous administrative changes further disrupted irrigation systems, seed access, and pest control.
El Gezira’s once-thriving agriculture has now been reduced to a shadow of its former self.
Farmer unions and alliances have issued repeated warnings, but authorities have done little to respond.
Thousands of farmers have left the profession altogether, unable to survive the rising costs, insecurity, and policy failures.
According to Farouk El Badawi, of the Gezira and Managil Farmers’ Alliance, agriculture in the region, which once operated at full capacity, is now functioning at less than half its efficiency—particularly in conflict-controlled zones.
He blamed current economic policies and neglect by officials for deepening the crisis.
Without dredgers to clean blocked canals or timely water delivery, many farms remain dry, even as deadlines for the official planting calendar pass.
The cost of preparing just one acre has reached 150,000 Sudanese pounds, while fertilisers remain out of reach.
The lack of funding, unresolved canal damage, and widespread insecurity continue to erode any chance of seasonal recovery.
Farmers stress that without immediate support from independent local and international bodies—bypassing ineffective government institutions—the region’s agricultural backbone may not recover at all.
