Comments on: Food, Farms and Power in Sudan http://blogs.ssrc.org/darfur/2008/08/10/food-farms-and-power-in-sudan/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:36:10 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Hafiz Mohamed http://blogs.ssrc.org/darfur/2008/08/10/food-farms-and-power-in-sudan/comment-page-1/#comment-2302 Hafiz Mohamed Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:45:08 +0000 http://blogs.ssrc.org/darfur/?p=601#comment-2302 That is really useful article; it addresses one of them main issues facing Sudan recently. Sudan is supposed to be the 'breadbasket of the Middle East'-- that is what we learned when we were students, but this ambition never materialised as many Sudanese remain dependent on hand-outs from relief organisations. Many factors have contributed to that one of them is lack of political stability and strategic planning. But the government planners have contributed to that deliberately, as the government economic policies for the last 40 years discourage small farmers by not giving them the support they need and setting official policies to serve traders and exporters. In the late 70s and early 80s the first Islamic bank opened in Sudan (Faisal Islamic Bank) and then followed by others. Mainly the Islamic banks used to finance traders to buy the agricultural products cheaply from the farmers and store them for some time and then impose very high prices on the market as they had monopoly for the commodity. The only beneficiaries were the traders and their bank. In the last years the commercial bank start given loans to farmers through a lending mechanism called Agd Al Salam. 70% of the farmers who used this procedure failed to pay back their loans and they lost all their belongings and some ended up in prison. People who used the Agricultural Bank faced the same problem. I have a farm in the eastern part of South Kordofan. For the last two years it failed to cover its running cost. The main reason behind that is the prices. At the being of the harvest seasons the price of a sack of sorghum was around $17, the time when most of the small farmer sell their products. It jumped to $35 six month later and now is around $70 and the price will start falling from October as the new harvest season will start. Successive governments in Sudan failed to address this issues and did not put in place the right policies to support the farmers. Sudan use to have 10% share of the cotton market up to 1990 and now it exports less than 4% and we will get less this year. In the Nuba Mountains we used to have the Nuba Mountains Agricultural Organisation based in Kadugli. It used to support small farmers. Taxes levied from the agricultural product use to cover half of the budget of the region. Now it is less than 10%. That was due to the privatisation of the organisation and deliberate destruction of this sector. That is really useful article; it addresses one of them main issues facing Sudan recently. Sudan is supposed to be the ‘breadbasket of the Middle East’– that is what we learned when we were students, but this ambition never materialised as many Sudanese remain dependent on hand-outs from relief organisations. Many factors have contributed to that one of them is lack of political stability and strategic planning. But the government planners have contributed to that deliberately, as the government economic policies for the last 40 years discourage small farmers by not giving them the support they need and setting official policies to serve traders and exporters.

In the late 70s and early 80s the first Islamic bank opened in Sudan (Faisal Islamic Bank) and then followed by others. Mainly the Islamic banks used to finance traders to buy the agricultural products cheaply from the farmers and store them for some time and then impose very high prices on the market as they had monopoly for the commodity. The only beneficiaries were the traders and their bank.

In the last years the commercial bank start given loans to farmers through a lending mechanism called Agd Al Salam. 70% of the farmers who used this procedure failed to pay back their loans and they lost all their belongings and some ended up in prison. People who used the Agricultural Bank faced the same problem.

I have a farm in the eastern part of South Kordofan. For the last two years it failed to cover its running cost. The main reason behind that is the prices. At the being of the harvest seasons the price of a sack of sorghum was around $17, the time when most of the small farmer sell their products. It jumped to $35 six month later and now is around $70 and the price will start falling from October as the new harvest season will start.

Successive governments in Sudan failed to address this issues and did not put in place the right policies to support the farmers. Sudan use to have 10% share of the cotton market up to 1990 and now it exports less than 4% and we will get less this year. In the Nuba Mountains we used to have the Nuba Mountains Agricultural Organisation based in Kadugli. It used to support small farmers. Taxes levied from the agricultural product use to cover half of the budget of the region. Now it is less than 10%. That was due to the privatisation of the organisation and deliberate destruction of this sector.

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