Wildfires destroy palm plantations in Sudan’s Northern State

“Massive” fires broke out in a date palm plantation in Merowe locality in Sudan’s Northern State over the weekend, reportedly burning hundreds of palm trees.

Hatem Mohamed Ahmed told Radio Dabanga that the fire broke out in Osly, Merowe locality, on Saturday and continued until Sunday evening. The Civil Defence extinguished it. “The fire caused significant damage to hundreds of palm trees and citizens’ property,” he said.

The Civil Defence was slow to respond to the fire, he said. “The fire engines arrived five hours after the fire broke out and the excuse was that fuel was unavailable.” Keeping the fire engines at the Civil Defense headquarters 45 kilometres away in Karima reportedly caused further delays.

Fires were also reported in Du Makan on the eastern bank of the Nile, Duwaim Wad Haj, and Abu Dom.

He attributed the recurrence of palm tree fires to farmers’ poor treatment of the soil. They reportedly set random fires which spread due to the winds. He also warned that young people searching for beehives might be setting fires to smoke out the bees and harvest honey.

“We need to educate civilians on ways to avoid wildfires, strategically store fire engines in several different places, and create a fire emergency protocol,” he said.

Date palms are cultivated in Sudan from the Egyptian border, along the Nile, to Sennar. In addition to the banks of the Nile, cultivated date trees occur in the vicinity of Port Sudan, Kassala, Atbara, Dongola and the Darfur region.

In all these locations, palm trees depend on accessible groundwater or irrigation. The water for irrigation is either taken from wells or the Nile.

This year, Northern State has witnessed over 20 fires, most of which were in areas inhabited by Mahas, a sub-group of Nubian people living in southern Egypt and northern Sudan along the banks of the River Nile. End July, a wildfire on a palm plantation in Delgo destroyed over 85 date trees.

The Ministry of Agriculture estimates annual losses due to fires at about 1,000 to 1,500 palm trees. The fires that have broken out since the beginning of this year far exceed this number.

According to agricultural expert Daoud Hussein, the only solution to address the problem of wildfires at palm plantations is another way of working and cooperation between the palm owners and the government. “The abandoned palm groves, with weeds and dry trees piled up, contributes to a rapid outbreak of fires,” he said in an interview with Radio Dabanga in early October.