MONGABAY.COM
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
|
|
Sudan
Index
In the early 1990s, agriculture and livestock raising were
the main sources of livelihood in Sudan for about 61 percent of
the working population. Agricultural products regularly accounted
for about 95 percent of the country's exports. Industry was
mostly agriculturally-based, accounting for 15 percent of GDP in
1988. The average annual growth of agricultural production
declined in the 1980s to 0.8 percent for the period 1980-87, as
compared with 2.9 percent for the period 1965-80. Similarly, the
sector's total contribution to GDP declined over the years, as
the other sectors of the economy expanded. Total sectoral
activities, which contributed an estimated 40 percent of GDP in
the early 1970s, had fluctuated during the 1980s and represented
about 36 percent in 1988 (see
table 6, Appendix). Crop
cultivation was divided between a modern, market-oriented sector
comprising mechanized, large-scale irrigated and rainfed farming
(mainly in central Sudan) and small-scale farming following
traditional practices that was carried on in the other parts of
the country where rainfall or other water sources were sufficient
for cultivation.
Large investments continued to be made in the 1980s in
mechanized, irrigated, and rainfed cultivation, with their
combined areas accounting for roughly two-thirds of Sudan's
cultivated land in the late 1980s. The early emphasis on cotton
growing on irrigated land had decreased. Although cotton remained
the most important crop, peanuts, wheat, and sugarcane had become
major crops, and considerable quantities of sesame also were
grown (see
table 7, Appendix). Rainfed mechanized farming
continued to produce mostly sorghum, and short-fiber cotton was
also grown. Production in both subsectors increased domestic
supplies and export potentials. The increase appeared, however,
to have been achieved mainly by expanding the cultivated area
rather than by increasing productivity. To stimulate
productivity, in 1981 the government offered various incentives
to cultivators of irrigated land who were almost entirely
government tenants. Subsistence cultivators produced sorghum as
their staple crop, although in the northerly, rainfed, cultivated
areas millet was the principal staple. Subsistence farmers also
grew peanuts and sesame.
Livestock raising, pursued throughout Sudan except in the
extremely dry areas of the north and the tsetse-fly-infested area
in the far south, was almost entirely in the traditional sector.
Because livestock raising provided employment for so many people,
modernization proposals have been based on improving existing
practices and marketing for export, rather than moving toward the
modern ranching that requires few workers.
Fishing was largely carried out by the traditional sector for
subsistence. An unknown number of small operators also used the
country's major reservoirs in the more populated central region
and the rivers to catch fish for sale locally and in nearby
larger urban centers. The few modern fishing ventures, mainly on
Lake Nubia and in the Red Sea, were small.
The forestry subsector comprised both traditional gatherers
of firewood and producers of charcoal--the main sources of fuel
for homes and some industry in urban areas--and a modern timber
and sawmilling industry, the latter government owned.
Approximately 21 million cubic meters of wood, mainly for fuel,
were cut in 1987. Gum arabic production in FY 1986-87 was about
40,000 tons. In the late 1980s, it became in most years the
second biggest export after cotton, amounting to about 11 percent
of total exports.
Experimental farm in Yambio, western Al Istiwai State
Courtesy Robert O. Collins
Cotton growing in Al Jazirah, where international funding
has helped rehabilitate irrigation systems
Courtesy Embassy of the Republic of Sudan, Washington
Data as of June 1991
|
|