Sudan allocates 100,000 acres to Egyptian farmers
Around 100,000 acres (40,000 ha) of farmland in Sudan have been allocated to Egyptian small-scale farmers. The Sudanese Minister of Investment, Dr Mustafa Osman Ismail, told reporters in Khartoum on Sunday that farmlands have been reserved for interested Egyptian farmers at a rate of 10 acres (4 ha) each. “Sudan gives maximum priority to Egyptian investors in the country,” Ismail said in a joint press conference with the Egyptian investment counselor Ahmed El Fideili, head of an Egyptian delegation currently visiting Sudan. He added that the volume of Egyptian investments in the Sudan currently stands at $3 billion, and is expected to increase to $11 billion during “the forthcoming period”. El Fideili underlined the importance of giving the opportunity to Egyptian youth to invest in Sudan. Less than a week ago, Sudanese farmers of El Gezira Agricultural Scheme expressed their outrage about President Al Bashir’s allegations that they “always want the government to fund their agricultural projects demand funding without paying back their loans”.At a press conference on 30 November, the president described El Gezira Scheme as non-feasible. “Since the end of the 1960s, the Scheme has become a burden on the country’s budget.” El Gezira Scheme, located between the Blue and White Nile in the area south of Khartoum, has remained for nearly eighty years the sole source of hard currency for the country, through the cultivation of cotton, grown over an area of 400,000-600,000 acres (160,000-240,000 ha). However, the size of cotton production has reduced to less than 100,000 acres over the last few decades. About 12 cotton gins in El Gezira state have closed their doors, owing to a lack of financial support and neglect. File photo: A farmer in Dongola, Northern state (The Niles) Related: ‘Corrupt agriculture projects in Sudan’s Blue Nile’: memorandum (5 December 2014) Sudan: Farmers’ fury at Al Bashir’s accusations of theft (3 December 2014) 111 cancer deaths in Sudan’s El Gezira this year (28 October 2014) No sorghum harvest in Sudan’s El Gezira (5 August 2014)
Around 100,000 acres (40,000 ha) of farmland in Sudan have been allocated to Egyptian small-scale farmers.
The Sudanese Minister of Investment, Dr Mustafa Osman Ismail, told reporters in Khartoum on Sunday that farmlands have been reserved for interested Egyptian farmers at a rate of 10 acres (4 ha) each.
“Sudan gives maximum priority to Egyptian investors in the country,” Ismail said in a joint press conference with the Egyptian investment counselor Ahmed El Fideili, head of an Egyptian delegation currently visiting Sudan.
He added that the volume of Egyptian investments in the Sudan currently stands at $3 billion, and is expected to increase to $11 billion during “the forthcoming period”.
El Fideili underlined the importance of giving the opportunity to Egyptian youth to invest in Sudan.
Less than a week ago, Sudanese farmers of El Gezira Agricultural Scheme expressed their outrage about President Al Bashir’s allegations that they “always want the government to fund their agricultural projects demand funding without paying back their loans”.
At a press conference on 30 November, the president described El Gezira Scheme as non-feasible. “Since the end of the 1960s, the Scheme has become a burden on the country’s budget.”
El Gezira Scheme, located between the Blue and White Nile in the area south of Khartoum, has remained for nearly eighty years the sole source of hard currency for the country, through the cultivation of cotton, grown over an area of 400,000-600,000 acres (160,000-240,000 ha). However, the size of cotton production has reduced to less than 100,000 acres over the last few decades. About 12 cotton gins in El Gezira state have closed their doors, owing to a lack of financial support and neglect.
File photo: A farmer in Dongola, Northern state (The Niles)
Related:
‘Corrupt agriculture projects in Sudan’s Blue Nile’: memorandum (5 December 2014)
Sudan: Farmers’ fury at Al Bashir’s accusations of theft (3 December 2014)
111 cancer deaths in Sudan’s El Gezira this year (28 October 2014)
No sorghum harvest in Sudan’s El Gezira (5 August 2014)
and then