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

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.