Blake Evans-Pritchard
18 December 2009
Khartoum — Sudan is hoping to use foreign cash to reinvigorate its under-performing agricultural sector, but there is growing disagreement over the extent to which outsiders, rather than local farmers, should be taking control of the industry.
In 2007, the government established a Five Year Action Plan for agriculture. The plan highlighted the dangers of depending on a single commodity product such as oil, due to fluctuations in international prices and limited proven reserves. Sudan's budget for 2009, approved at the beginning of December, forecasts a 43.7 percent fall in oil export revenues next year.
Abdel Dafi, Federal Agricultural Commissioner at the Ministry of Investment, says that the potential of Sudan's agriculture sector is vast, but there are a number of problems that can only be overcome with foreign help. "Most local farmers are familiar with traditional subsistence farming, but don't have the experience with large-scale commercial projects," he told IPS News. "Foreign investment can also help improve transport infrastructure and bring down energy costs."
Dafi says that only 20 percent of the 7.2 million hectares of cultivated land in Sudan is being farmed using modern technology - and most of this is because of foreign investment.
Saudi Arabia's Al-Rajhi Group is one of the largest foreign investors in Sudan's agri-business. Earlier this year, the firm negotiated a 40-year lease from the government for 40,000 hectares of land. Usually, the government only grants foreign investors an initial three-year lease, during which time the company needs to prove that it is serious about the project it has signed up to. But, such was the strength of Al-Raji Group's investment (the firm released $70 million straight-away), that Sudan decided to waive the three-year limitation.
But there are concerns that Al-Rajhi Group is an exception, and that other foreign investors are simply sitting on land that they have leased from the government without doing anything with it. "Whilst firms are happy to invest in land, which is cheap at the moment, lack of spare capital and falling food prices makes it unattractive to spend on agricultural projects right now," says Abah Ofon, an agricultural commodities analyst with Standard Chartered Bank in Dubai.
Abdolreza Abbassian, a commodities analyst at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), is worried that investors are so reluctant to spend money on developing agriculture.
"Whilst we have seen a sharp drop in international food prices, this is not being reflected at the local level," he says. "We had a good crop yield in 2008, and this helped with supplies, but there needs to be continued investment if we are to avoid a shortfall in subsequent years."
Dal Group, Sudan's largest private enterprise, believes that there is huge potential in developing large-scale agriculture to supply the local market.
"Whilst many foreign investors are planning to export, we are concentrating on meeting the current needs of the Sudanese," says Mohamed Elshafie, spokesman for the company. Dal has already launched a number of agricultural projects in the northern suburbs of Khartoum, as well as in the far north of Sudan, and is planning further development in the coming years.
Next year, the company plans to open the largest dairy farm in the country, which will have up to 10,000 cows. Sudan imports four million tonnes of powdered milk each year because it does not have enough cows to meet local demand, according to figures from the Ministry of Agriculture. Elshafie says that the dairy, which should open next year, will help to meet this shortfall and push down prices.
He adds that Dal's farms will sell produce first and foremost on the local market, but will consider exporting once local needs have been met. The main challenge for Dal during project start-up has been a shortage of skilled labour and machinery.
A number of skilled labourers have been brought over from Kenya, which has a long history of mechanised farming. Some have come from agricultural projects in South Africa and Australia. Dal has also managed to persuade a number of Sudanese nationals, who have been working overseas in places such as Saudi Arabia, to return and employ their skills back home. Elshafie says that Dal Group wants to start training local Sudanese to work on its farms, and is hoping that the foreign expertise can be passed on to its less-skilled workers.
Dal Group enjoys some advantages over foreign investors. Since the company is a Sudanese firm, with a long-term commitment to the country, it is able to purchase rather than lease land from the government. It is also in a position to develop better relationships with the local community. Osama Daoud, the chief executive, is himself a Nubian from northern Sudan.
"What we try to do in many of our projects is to build a new community: to invest in housing projects, build hospitals, build roads, provide jobs," says Elshafie.
Nowhere is this more obvious than in the wheat-growing project they have launched in the far north of Sudan, near Wadi Halfa. In the 1960s, many local Nubian people were forced to leave the region when a large area of agricultural land was flooded by the construction of the Wadi Halfa Dam. New land was allocated for these people in the east of the country, but they struggled to adapt to a markedly different climate. Many have since resettled in Khartoum.
"These people would like to move back," says Elshafie. "They are not happy. They still have memories of the past. They are good farmers of wheat. The investment we are making gives them the opportunity to return home."
In Gezira State, a particularly fertile area south of Khartoum where many foreign projects are being established, there have been some disputes with small landowners, who feel that they have had to give up their land unfairly and without adequate compensation.
"The problem is that there are two kinds of laws - the government's laws and the community's laws," says Dafi from the Ministry of Investment. "Whilst legally a lot of land in Sudan belongs to the government, it also has a social value and has often been in the hands of local tribes for generations."
According to the 1970 Unregistered Land Act, any land not formally registered belongs to the government. Dafi estimates that, under this system, only 6 percent of land is privately-owned, whilst 94 percent is in the hands of the government.
The current land tenure system is under review at the moment, and the government hopes to make some changes to it in the year ahead, through the launch of a series of Land Commissions.
"This is a very important issue," says Elshafie. "An agricultural project that doesn't have the local community on-side is going to run into problems."
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INDEPENDENT FARMERS’ UNION IDEA
I'm an entrepreneurial sort of person and I got an idea along those lines that I believe many of us who are grassroots thinkers have been overlooking.
So here goes my idea :
a) We have all kinds of Farmers and Farms that are struggling to make a profit. I believe that they are struggling because they are farming under a kind of Third World system that advantages the persons who convert what farmers produce.
b) In most Third World countries , the First & Second World countries will only build enough infrastructure to allow shipment of RAW MATERIALS from their source(s) to the modes of shipping transportation used to transport the RAW MATERIALS to those First & Second World countries that will turn the RAW MATERIALS into processed goods.
* For example - They will build a railroad line of tracks from some Third World country's gold and diamond mines ( e.g. Zaire ) to the Giant Ships docked and waiting to carry them to processors and sellers such as De Beers, Coca-Cola , Cadbury's etc..
c) What kinds of RAW MATERIALS do Farmers produce and/or have access to :
* Gold - Rice , Cocoa ,Mangos, etc…
d) Major Problems stopping small farmers from taking advantage of the possibility of turning your products into a profitable business : LACK OF TIME
e) Solution - My Idea : Form an Independent Union Of Farmers . Having a Coop is great, but it’s only a way of further enriching the processors of our RAW MATERIALS.
* How would this work ?
1) Each Region would represent a chapter of this Independent Farmers Union
2) Generally speaking, each farmer would retain all of their rights ; just as they had before they joined the Independent Farmers Union .
3) The Independent Farmers Union would be finance collectively by individual members paying dues.
4) These dues which would be used to set-up business ventures in each Independent Farmers Union's Region.
Some Examples Of Businesses That could be set up
* Chicken Processing Plant, and restaurants that would sell the chickens could be supplied right their in each Independent Farmers Union's Region.
* Produce Markets
* Dairies
* Ice Cream Parlors (using fresh milk)
* Fast Food and/or Restaurants - featuring meat from various farm animals
* Supermarkets
* Chocolate Processors – instead of giving your cocoa to companies like Cadbury’s. What do companies like DeBeers, Coca Cola,Cadbury’s and others have that entitles them to get rich off of our Natural wealth ? NOTHING.. We empower them by our economic laziness !!!
5) The Independent Farmers Union's would need persons with expertise in areas concerning the setting up and running of these businesses on behalf of the Independent Farmers Union's.
WE ARE MAKING HUNDREDS WHILE GIVING AWAY BILLIONS TO OUR ECONOMIC SLAVE MASTERS !!!
THERE IS NO REASON WHY WE CAN'T TAKE CONTROL OF OUR OWN COUNTRY !
- FEED YOURSELVES SUGGESTION -
NEIGHBORHOOD COOP GREENHOUSES
ANOTHER SUGGESTION IS FOR THOSE LIVING IN THE CITY TO POOL
THEIR RESOURCES TOGETHER AND MAKE NEIGHBORHOOD COOP
GREENHOUSES . HERE YOU CAN GROW SOME KIND OF FOODS AND NOT
BE TOTALLY DEPENDENT ON GROCERY STORES.
HERE’S SOME EXAMPLES OF WHAT BLACK AFRICANS HAVE DONE :
BLACK AFRICAN INVENTORS AND THEIR INVENTIONS
The type of Invention is capitalized (e.g. TRAFFIC SIGNAL, MOTOR, etc..)
We Black Africans Can Be Self-Sufficient . Here are some major Black Africans who have had an impact on the world With their initiative These are INVENTORS .
This Listing includes The Inventor’s Name, Their Invention and in some cases the date the invention was recognized and the invention’s U.S. patent number.
* Sarah Boone - IRONING BOARD - April 26, 1892
* John A. Burr - LAWN MOWER
* Marie V. Brittan Brown - HOME SECURITY SYSTEM - Dec 2, 1969
* Buridge & Marshman - TYPEWRITER
* George Carruthers - X-RAY MACHINE
* George Washington Carver - PEANUT BUTTER - PAINTS – PAINT STAINS – ETC
* John Clark - TRACK ATHLETE TRAINER
* W.A. Dietz - SHOE
* Joseph Dickinson - PLAYER PIANO - ARM FOR RECORD PLAYER
* P.B. Downing - POSTAL LETTER BOX
* Charles R. Drew - BLOOD PLASMA STORAGE SYSTEM
* T. Elkins - TOILET (COMMODE)
* Robert Flemming Jr. - GUITAR
* Cathleen McCoy Garrett SIREN - HORN LIGHT INDICATOR
* George F. Grant - GOLF TEE
* J. Gregory - MOTOR
* Joanna Hardin - KEYBOARD STAND - Feb 23, 1993
* Michael Harney - LANTERN
* Solomon Harper - THERMO(HEATED) HAIR CURLERS
* Augustus Jackson - ICE CREAM
* B.F. Jackson - GAS BURNER
* H.A. Jackson - KITCHEN TABLE
* Ruane Jeter - DIGITAL TOASTER - April 14, 1987
* Isaac R. Johnson - BICYCLE FRAME
* John A. Johnson - WRENCH
* Lonnie Johnson - SUPER SOAKER WATERGUN
* P. Johnson - EYE PROTECTOR (GOGGLES)
* W. Johnson - EGG BEATER
* Frederick M. Jones - DEFROSTER - REFRIGERATION CONTROLS – AIR CONDITIONER
* Jones & Long - BOTTLE CAPS
* John H. Jordan - CLOTHES DRESSER
* Mary B. Kenner - SANITARY BELT (TAMPONS) - May 15, 1956
* Mary B. Kenner - SANITARY BELT (WATERPROOF) - April 14, 1959
* Mary B. Kenner - BATHROOM TISSUE HOLDER - Nov 19, 1982
* Mary B. Kenner - BACKWASHER ( BATHTUB OR SHOWER MOUNTED) - July 29,1987
* Lewis Latimer & Nichols - ELECTIC LAMP
* W.A. Lavalette - PRINTING PRESS
* F.W. Leslie - ENVELOPE SEAL
* Maurice W. Lee PRESSURE COOKER
* A.L. Lewis - WINDOW CLEANER
* John L. Love - PENCIL SHARPENER
* Tony J. Marshall - FIRE EXTINGUISHER
* Alexander Miles - ELEVATOR
* Jan E. Matzeliger - SHOE LASTING MACHINE
* W.A. Martin - LOCK
* Garrett A. Morgan - GAS MASK - Traffic Signal
* Lydia Newman - HAIR BRUSH - Nov 15, 1898
* Alice H. Parker - HEATING FURNACE - Dec 23, 1919
* J.F. Pickering - AIR SHIP (BLIMP)
* Purdy & Sadgwar - FOLDING CHAIR
* W.B. Purvis - FOUNTAIN PEN
* L.P. Ray - DUST PAN
* W.H. Richardson - BABY BUGGY
* Walter Sammons - PRESSING COMB
* G.T. Sampson - CLOTHES DRYER
* Dewey Sanderson - URINALYSIS MACHINE
* Ralph Sanderson - HYDRAULIC SHOCK ABSORBER
* S.R. Scottron - CURTAIN ROD
* Adolph Shamms - MULTI -STAGE ROCKET
* .W. Smith - LAWN SPRINKLER
* Richard B. Spikes - AUTOMATIC GEAR SHIFT
* J. Standard - REFRIGERATOR
* T.W. Stewart - MOP
* Maxine Snowden - RAIN HAT - 1983
* Theora Stephens - PRESSING & CURLING IRON
* Rufus J. Weaver - STAIR -CLIMBING WHEELCHAIR
* Paul E. Williams - HELICOPTER
* J.B. Winters - FIRE ESCAPE LADDER
* Granville T. Woods - Telephone System Apparatus Oct 11, 1887 – Patent # 371, 241
* Granville T. Woods - Roller Coaster
* Granville T. Woods - Auto Air Brake - June 10, 1902 - Patent # 701, 98
* Granville T. Woods - Telegraph Transmission Devices - Dec 2, 1884 Patents # - 308, 816 (7)
* Thanks to The Black Inventors Museum *
* Address : P.O. Box 76128 - Los Angeles , Calif. (90076)
* Phone (310) 859-4602)
* Director : Ghanaian Mr. Hamza Salifa
* Major Contributor of Information : SEESTAH Imahkus Nzinga Okofo
[This inspiring poem was featuring in the movie “Coach Carter ”]
Our Deepest Fear Is Not That We Are Inadequate, Our Deepest Fear Is That We Are Powerful Beyond Measure. It Is Our Light , Not Our Darkness That Most Frightens Us.
We Ask Ourselves, Who Am I To Be Brilliant, Gorgeous, Talented, And Fabulous ?
Actually Who Are We Not To Be ? You Are A Child Of God.
Your Playing Small Doesn’t Serve The World.
There Is Nothing Enlightened About Shrinking So That Other People Won’t Feel Insecure Around You.
We Are All Meant To Shine, As Children Do.
We Were Born To Make Manifest The Glory Of God That Is Within Us.
It’s Not Just In Some Of Us; It’s In Everyone.
And When We Let Our Own Light Shine We Unconsciously Give Other People Permission To Do The Same.
And As We Are Liberated From Our Own Fear, Our Presence Automatically Liberates Others
- Marianne Williamson -
[NOTE – BEING AFRAID AND REFUSING TO GET INVOLVED WON’T STOP US FROM DYING. BUT BEING AFRAID CAN PREVENT US FROM LIVING]
(Nkosi Sikeleli Africa )
God bless Africa May her glory be lifted high Hear our petitions .
God bless us, Your children God we ask You to protect our nation Intervene and end all conflicts Protect us, protect our nation, our nation.
From the blue of our heaven, From the depths of our sea, Over our eternal mountain ranges, Where the cliffs give answer.
Sounds the call to come together, And united we shall stand, Let us live and strive for freedom, In South Africa our land.
[Enoch Mankayi Sontonga]
WAKE UP !!! STAY UP !!!
TRUTHSEEKERS MOUNT UP !
[http://www.infowars.com/infowars.asx] / [gcnlive.com]
Life Is A Game. Have Fun . Luke 18:17 - Isaiah 11:6