Economics of Farm Resource Utilization in River Nile State of Northern Sudan

Elgilany Ahmed,Saidatulakmal Mohd,Jamalludin Sulaiman

doi:10.5923/j.re.20120206.01

Abstract

In Sudan, land tenants use numerous crops to intensify production in an attempt to improve household food security and income. Resources-use optimization is crit ical to produce field crops wh ich are regarded as essential food and cash crops in Sudan. This paper looks at River Nile State of north Sudan as a case study due to its high potential to grow food and cash crops. The crops are co mmonly produced under pump irrigation fro m the River Nile. Production of these crops in the State faces numerous hindrances, including inefficiency of resources utilization, lo w level of productivity and high cost of production. The research aimed to optimise the use of available resources in food and cash crops. Primary data were collected using structured questionnaires on 70 randomly selected respondents. A linear programming technique was used to assess the optimal co mb ination of resources in the crops under study. The model revealed that tenants would get higher returns by optimising resource utilizat ion in food and cash crop production. The State tenants should therefore be guided on how to optimally utilize their resources and be encouraged to grow cash and food crops as a significant contribution to farm sustainability and malnutrit ion alleviation.

Highlights

Sudan’s economic structure has undergone a major shift over the past two decades[5], the main drivers being oil discovery at the turn o f this Century and expansion in serv ices
The research demonstrates that River Nile State has the opportunity to take a lead in annual crop production due to its stable and high-quality natural resources
This paper explores some of the findings of the field survey, and it describes the resources utilisation for agricultura l production in term o f food security and poverty alleviation

Summary

Introduction

Sudan’s economic structure has undergone a major shift over the past two decades[5], the main drivers being oil discovery at the turn o f this Century and expansion in serv ices. It is evident that in the foreseeable future the welfare of Sudan’s population, especially of the poor who are largely located in rural areas, will to a substantial degree depend on the performance of the agricultural sector[11]. Agriculture has almost consistently been disadvantaged in public allocations to various economic sectors[6]. Its allocations are both meager and dwindling: fro m 3.4% to 1.6% during 2000 to 2005 (by more than 50%). The actual share of agriculture in the total development expenditure varied fro m 8% to 44% over the period 2000 to 2005, but the trend is irregularly increasing.

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Results

Conclusion