Sudan’s El Gezira farmers refuse to plant groundnuts

Farmers of El Gezira Agricultural Scheme will not plant groundnuts during the coming season. In a press statement on Sunday, the farmers justified their refusal by pointing to their low income, the “prevalent chaos” in the Scheme policies and arrangements, and the lack of labour forces. Last April, a group of El Gezira farmers announced that they would refrain from growing cotton and some other crops during the next rainy season in June. A member of El Gezira and El Managil Farmers Association told Radio Dabanga that the farmers were too poor to prepare their farmlands. “The lack of remunerative crop prices has created a recession. The selling price of onions has become equivalent to the production costs.” Map: Sudan (ipipotash.org) El Gezira Agricultural Scheme is located south of Khartoum, in the triangle between the White and the Blue Nile. Related:Farmers in Sudan’s El Gezira won’t plant cotton (27 April 2014)Farmers protest factory, police demands rights in Sudan’s White Nile (25 April 2014)Promise to compensate poor crops in Sudan’s El Gezira (6 December 2013)