Gezira Scheme Research Articles

Too big to handle, too important to abandon: Reforming Sudan’s Gezira scheme

Participatory irrigation management (PIM) has been broadly promoted by public administrators and donor organizations. The reasons for this push include performance failures of state-controlled irrigation schemes and the need to improve irrigation productivity for meeting rising food demands. A popular reform for increasing participation and ownership is represented by Irrigation Management Transfers (IMTs). IMTs mean replacing the government with the civil society (farmers) in irrigation management, and they go beyond working with the public sector as in PIM. These widely implemented reforms produced mixed experiences. Besides, the evaluation of IMT cases is reliant on scarce quantitative data. IMTs are also difficult to replicate due to methodological issues. However, qualitative research can engage with stakeholders’ perceptions and narratives, especially the most relevant target group, namely farmers. We provide in this study stakeholders’ opinions and attitudes towards several waves of IMT reforms in the Gezira scheme in Sudan. This mega-scheme is of high developmental and socio-cultural importance for the country ever since the independence from the British Empire. Using a perception survey and in-depth interviews with key informants, we illustrate the failure legacies to reform the Gezira scheme by enhancing farmers’ participation through Water User Associations (WUAs). While both farmers and experts have suggested a poor implementation, inadequate farmers’ involvement and unclear objectives of the reforms, the reforms’ recurrent failures are explained within complex historic and political contexts. There are long-standing legacies of development missteps of the Gezira scheme, with no clear and ultimate triggers of performance deterioration. Besides, splits in professional cultures, power imbalances, political instrumentalization (of farmers) and the lack of farmers’ awareness or capacities are salient factors for understanding the poor state of the Gezira scheme. It is difficult for stand-alone irrigation management reforms to be successful. Such reforms need to be embedded within a comprehensive policy package that prioritizes irrigation governance and proposes sound regulations based on clear roles, consensus-making and prior consultation.

Analytical Study of Factors Affecting Wheat Production in Gezira scheme, Sudan (1991- 2015): دراسة تحليلية للعوامل المؤثرة على إنتاج القمح بمشروع الجزيرة –بالسودان للفترة (1991ـ 2015)

Wheat is one of the most important strategic food security crops grown during the winter season in Gezira scheme. This study aimed to identify and to estimate wheat production in Gezira scheme in Sudan during the period (1991- 2015). This study used secondary data information that consists of time series of wheat production, real costs, temperature, economic liberalization (dummy variable) obtained from Wad Madani Meteorological Station, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and Central Bureau of Statistics. This study used analytical descriptive method. Using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) technique to estimate climate and same economic factors that influence wheat production in Gezira Scheme though (E- views software). The findings showed that, rising costs have negative effect on production. This explained the fact that production inputs such as agricultural machines, pesticides were imported from other countries, so it affected directly by exchange rate. Results showed that, there were an inverse and significant relationship between average temperature and wheat production during the period of study. On the other hand, economic liberalization (dummy variable) has positive effect on wheat production, considering increase of agricultural finance from 2% to 50% during nineteenth`s from total finance. The study recommended with efficient production technologies to decrease. the real production costs. To cope with climate change conditions, growing early mature and drought tolerant varieties, are crucially needed. More revision and studies concern with economic liberalization policies to alleviate economic distortions that are associated with these policies would be applied.

Impacts of drought, food security policy and climate change on performance of irrigation schemes in Sub-saharan Africa: The case of Sudan

Owing to contradicted scientific results, trends in drought due to global warming have been assigned with medium confidence. Drought will likely continue inputting immense pressure on food security in fragile ecosystems like Sub-saharan Africa (SSA). As an adaptation measure to severe drought events since the 1980s, the overall goal of irrigated schemes (foreign exchange earnings) thus has been shifted to sustain food security. This study assessed the impacts of such drought-driven agricultural policy and future climate change on the performance of large irrigated schemes in SSA, with special emphasis on the Gezira scheme, GS (0.88 mha), Sudan. The optimized scenario of the baseline period, developed in GAMS (the general algebraic modeling system), showed that the expansion of food crops on the expensive of cash crops resulted in a reduction of 83 % in gross net benefits and loss of 63 % in irrigation water in the GS since the severe drought of 1984. The biased corrected rainfall and temperature outputs of three randomly selected regional climate models (RCMs) under unmitigated pathways (RCP 8.5), suggested increased rainfall of 40 mm, increased temperature of 3.3 °C and 5 % increase in reference evapotranspiration for the period 2040–2070, compared to the baseline (1960–1990). The predicted conditions experienced neither extreme drought nor extreme wet events; however, severe and moderately drought events remain a challenge up to 2060. Due to climate change and current water management practices, the FAO-Aquacrop predicted reductions in crop yields and water productivity, especially for cotton and sorghum of 40 and 29 % respectively. Optimized future crop scenarios indicate that food crops such as sorghum and wheat are not viable. Cash (cotton) and soil fertility maintenance crops (groundnuts) would be better for sustaining economic viability. The agricultural policy and water management practices thus should be revisited to keep pace with future climate changes.

Financial and Economic Evaluation of Cotton Production in New HalfaAgricultural Corporation, Kassala State, Sudan (1981/1982-2009/2010)

The New Halfa agricultural Production Corporation (NHAPC) is considered as one of the leading agricultural scheme in cotton production, being the second largest in comparison with the Gezira scheme concerning the area. The Government’s agricultural policies were the main factors for the studying and knowing the financial and economic evaluation indicators for the production of cotton in New Halfa Agricultural Production Corporation during the period (1981/1982-2009/2010), and the comparison between these indicators for different periods in producing cotton at New Halfa Agricultural Production Corporation (first period 1981/1982-1991/1992) individual account system, (second period 1992/1993-2009/2010) liberalization in the following phases: Financial and economic indicators (net present worth NPW, benefit cost ratio B/C , internal rate of return IRR, net benefit investment N/K ratio, and payback period), area, production and average yield. The study was mainly based on the secondary data of the cotton crop at (NHAPC) such as areas, production, average yield, return, costs, benefits and net benefits for period (1981/82- 2009/10), using descriptive statistics, simple mathematics, and different ways of analysis and descriptive tables. The financial and economic evaluation during the periods (1981/1982- 2009/2010), (1981/1982-1991/1992), (1992/1993- 2009/2010) study showed that the production of cotton was feasible and the indicators were positive. The study recommended that the Government should have a commitment to appropriate agricultural policies, subsidize the agricultural sector particularly with regard to increasing the areas of cotton production, reduce the cost of production, process cotton locally to increase the added value, and manufacture the inputs locally for making more foreign currencies, and increase the cotton production through research development and extension.

The Role of Gate Operation in Reducing Problems with Cohesive and Non-Cohesive Sediments in Irrigation Canals

Sediments cause serious problems in irrigation systems, adversely affecting canal performance, driving up maintenance costs and, in extreme cases, threatening system sustainability. Multiple studies were done on the deposition of non-cohesive sediment and implications for canal design, the use of canal operation in handling sedimentation problems is relatively under-studied, particularly for cohesive sediments. In this manuscript, several scenarios regarding weirs and gate operation were tested, using the Delft3D model, applied to a case study from the Gezira scheme in Sudan. Findings show that weirs play a modest role in sedimentation patterns, where their location influences their effectiveness. On the contrary, gate operation plays a significant role in sedimentation patterns. Reduced gate openings may cause canal blockage while intermittently fully opening and closing of gates can reduce sediment deposition in the canal by 54% even under conditions of heavy sediment load. Proper location of weirs and proper adjusting of the branch canal’s gate can substantially reduce sedimentation problems while ensuring sufficient water delivery to crops. The use of 2D/3D models provides useful insights into spatial and temporal patterns of deposition and erosion but has challenges related to running time imposing a rather coarse modelling resolution to keep running times acceptable.

Exploring socio-hydrological determinants of crop yield in under-performing irrigation schemes: pathways for sustainable intensification

ABSTRACTUnderstanding the human–water–food–climate nexus is central to achieving sustainable intensification (SI) in agriculture. This research uses a socio-hydrological approach to understand the underpinning for implementing SI in the Gezira Irrigation Scheme, Sudan, by integrating vegetation indices derived from remote sensing, ancillary, gridded soil and precipitation data, supplemented by interviews with 393 farmers. The productivity gap was estimated as the difference between the potential and actual productivities. Based upon data on farmers’ socio-economic status and field practices, a regression tree model was built to determine the factors that control the sorghum yield. The model revealed that the financial status of farmers and access to water are the most influential factors on sorghum yield. A conceptual framework that elucidates SI and its bi-directional feedback to the environment, society and the economy is proposed. Implementing SI in the scheme has implications on water and food security in Sudan and beyond its borders.

Impacts of Legal and Institutional Changes on Irrigation Management Performance: A Case of the Gezira Irrigation Scheme, Sudan

This study aims to offer a comprehensive assessment of the impacts of policies and institutional arrangements on irrigation management performance. The case study, the Gezira Scheme, has witnessed a significant decrease in water management performance during recent decades. This situation led to several institutional changes in order to put the system on the right path. The main organizations involved in water management at the scheme are the Ministry of Irrigation & Water Resources (MOIWR), the Sudan Gezira Board (SGB), and the Water Users Associations (WUAs). Different combinations from these organizations were founded to manage the irrigation system. The evaluation of these organizations is based on the data of water supply and cultivated areas from 1970 to 2015. The measured data were compared with two methods: the empirical water order method (Indent) that considers the design criteria of the scheme, and the Crop Water Requirement (CWR) method. Results show that the MOIWR period was the most efficient era, with an average water surplus of 12% compared with the Indent value, while the most critical period (SGB & WUAs) occurred when the water supply increased by 80%. The other periods of the Irrigation Water Corporation (IWC), (SGB & MOIWR), and (WUAs & MOIWR) had witnessed an increase in water supply by 29%, 63%, and 67% respectively. Through these institutional changes, the percentage of excessive water supply jumped from 12% to 80%. Finally, the study provides general recommendations associated with institutional arrangements and policy adoption to improve irrigation system performance.

Perceived Level and Farmer Characteristics Factors Associated with Level of Environmental Sustainability of Cotton Farming System in the Sudanese Gezira Scheme

ABSTRACTCotton production plays an important role in the livelihood of farmers in the Gezira Scheme in the Sudan. It is the main cash crop produced in the scheme. However, sustainability of cotton production in the Gezira Scheme has been a worrying issue, specially, after the noticeable deterioration of the cotton production industry in the last few years. This study aimed to assess the environmental sustainability of cotton production in the Gezira Scheme as perceived by farmers who are the direct beneficiaries of the scheme. Understanding farmers’ perspective can help to adopt relevant policy for improving sustainable cotton farming system. Data was collected using interview schedule and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The indicators employed include use of fertilizers, pesticides, farm machinery, soil conservation practices, and availability of water at farm level. The level of environmental sustainability of cotton production was found to be moderate or fairly sustainable. Education level and farmers’ age were negatively correlated with environmental sustainability whilst family size was positively correlated with environmental sustainability however; the correlation magnitudes were negligible. The study found adequacy of irrigation water, the appropriate use of pesticides and soil conservation practices as the main contributing factors to the moderate environmental sustainability of cotton production in the Gezira Scheme. Since farmers are not rational in some practices, the study recommended that the Sudanese Ministry of Agriculture and managers of Gezira Scheme should educate and support cotton farmers in the scheme to adopt integrated soil conservation practices with minimal but efficient use of heavy farm machinery.

Implications of non-sustainable agricultural water policies for the water-food nexus in large-scale irrigation systems: A remote sensing approach

Abstract This study proposes a novel monitoring tool based on Satellite Remote Sensing (SRS) data to examine the status of water distribution and Water Use Efficiency (WUE) under changing water policies in large-scale and complex irrigation schemes. The aim is to improve our understanding of the water-food nexus in such schemes. With a special reference to the Gezira Irrigation Scheme (GeIS) in Sudan during the period 2000–2014, the tool devised herein is well suited for cases where validation data are absent. First, it introduces an index, referred to as the Crop Water Consumption Index (CWCI), to assess the efficiency of water policies. The index is defined as the ratio of actual evapotranspiration (ET a ) over agricultural areas to total ET a for the whole scheme where ET a is estimated using the Simplified Surface Energy Balance model (SSEB). Second, the tool uses integrated Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (iNDVI), as a proxy for crop productivity, and ET a to assess the WUE. Third, the tool uses SSEB ET a and NDVI in an attempt to detect wastage of water. Four key results emerged from this research as follows: 1) the WUE has not improved despite the changing agricultural and water policies, 2) the seasonal ET a can be used to detect the drier areas of GeIS, i.e. areas with poor irrigation water supply, 3) the decreasing trends of CWCI, slope of iNDVI-ET a linear regression and iNDVI are indicative of inefficient utilization of irrigation water in the scheme, and 4) it is possible to use SSEB ET a and NDVI to identify channels with spillover problems and detect wastage of rainwater that is not used as a source for irrigation. In conclusion, the innovative tool developed herein has provided important information on the efficiency of a large-scale irrigation scheme to help rationalize laborious water management processes and increase productivity.

Characterisation of larval habitats, species composition and factors associated with the seasonal abundance of mosquito fauna in Gezira, Sudan

BackgroundLarval source management (LSM), which requires an understanding of the ecology and composition of the local mosquito fauna, is an important parameter in successful vector control programmes. The present study was conducted to understand the distribution of larval habitats, species composition and factors associated with the seasonal abundance of mosquito larvae in Gezira irrigation Scheme in Gezira state, central Sudan.MethodsCross-sectional larval surveys were carried out in the communities of Barakat (urban) and El-Kareiba (semi-urban), in Wad Madani, Gezira. A standard dipper was used for sampling larvae in all possible breeding sites and enamel bowls were employed for larvae sorting. Habitats were characterised using physical features and all larvae specimens were identified morphologically.ResultsA total of 331 larval habitats were surveyed, out of which 166 were found to be positive breeding sites for Anopheles (56.78%), Culicinae (29.67%) and Aedes (13.55%) species. A total of 5 525 larvae collected were categorised as Culex (2 617, 47.37%), Anopheles (2 600, 47.06%) and Aedes (308, 5.57%). There was a high number of positive habitats during the rainy season, while the lowest proportion was reported during the hot dry season, in both study sites (Barakat [χ2 = 10.641, P = 0.0090], El-Kareiba [χ2 = 23.765, P = 0.0001]). The main breeding site for Anopheles larvae was leaking water pipes (51.5%), followed by irrigation channels (34.2%), hoof prints (6.4%), tyre tracks (5.5%) and water tanks (2.4%). A logistic regression analysis showed that the abundance of Anopheles larvae was reduced by the presence of predators (backswimmers, tadpoles) and grass cover. Adult productivity (number of adult females emerged/m2) was not homogeneousfor all habitats; the highest productivity was found in irrigation channels (0.78 females/m2) for Anopheles, and in septic tanks (2.86 females/m2) for Culicinae and (0.86 females/m2) for Aedes. Anopheles arabiensis was found to be the dominant Anopheles species. This study documented the presence of An. funestus in central Sudan for the first time.ConclusionsMaintaining leaking water pipes and adopting intermittent irrigation are recommended for LSM, as these surveyed habitats represent the main source of maintaining the local mosquito population during the hot dry season.

Analyzing the Technical Efficiency of Cotton Production in the Gezira Scheme, Sudan

Analyzing the Technical Efficiency of Cotton Production in the Gezira Scheme, Sudan

Effect of management practices on water use efficiency of Gezira irrigated scheme – Sudan

This study was conducted at Gezira scheme - Sudan during the period from 2009 to 2010 in a heavy clay soil to investigate the effect of management practices on water use efficiency for the different crops irrigated in Gezira scheme. The data was collected from the scheme Administration. The study was organized by using T-Test. Cropwat4 Windows was used to calculate crop water requirements (CWR) and the net irrigation requirements (NIR). The results showed that, Water use efficiency significantly (P ≤ 0.05) affected by the different management practices. Sorghum gave the highest mean value (0.48) of economic water use efficiency as compared to cotton which ranked the least (0.19). Technical water use efficiency for Sorghum and groundnut recorded the highest means values (0.34 and 0.30 kg/m3) while cotton gave the lowest (0.07 kg/m3). Wheat gave the highest mean values (0.87) of Hydraulic water use efficiency as compared to sorghum which ranked the least (0.59). It can be concluded that, proper technical guidelines for irrigation network management, operation and scheduling should be developed and followed.

Effects of different operation scenarios on sedimentation in irrigation canals of the Gezira Scheme, Sudan

Sediment and water management are key issues in irrigation schemes that suffer from accumulation of sediment along canals. This accumulation creates problems with adequate water supply and may lead to water shortage. The aim of this study was to analyse improvement options for operation and maintenance in order to achieve better sediment and water management in irrigation canals. A model has been developed to simulate cohesive sediment transport in irrigation canals. The model is a useful tool to predict cohesive sediment deposition under different operation and maintenance scenarios. It has been calibrated and validated by using field data of the Gezira Scheme in Sudan and has been applied for different options of operation. The best operation scenario was found when the scheme was operated based on the crop water requirement during the period of high sediment concentration. When the inflow was reduced by 51% during this period in 2011, the reduction in deposition was 48%. Such types of adaptation will significantly reduce deposition and improve sediment and water management in irrigation canals. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Evaluation of cathodic antigen urine tests for diagnosis of schistosoma mansoni infection in Sudan

Background:Kato–Katz is the preferred method for the detection of Schistosoma mansoni eggs in stool. However, the sensitivity of this method is low and affected by day-to-day variation in egg excretion. Cathodic antigen urine tests have been proven to be sensitive for the diagnosis of S. mansoni infection in limited studies.Aim:To evaluate the accuracy and sensitivity of cathodic antigen urine tests for the diagnosis of S. mansoni infection.Setting and Design:This study was conducted in the Gezira Irrigation Scheme in the Gezira State, Sudan. Both S. mansoni and Schistosoma haematobium are endemic in the Gezira State. Kab-Algidad Village situated in Al Kamleen locality was selected for the study. This is a school-based, cross-sectional, comparative study.Subjects and Methods:Female school children, aged between 11 and 14 years who consented to participate, were enrolled in the study. Stool samples were examined using Kato–Katz technique and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) digestion method. Urine samples were tested using the circulating cathodic antigen assays for the diagnosis of S. mansoni, and by centrifugation for S. haematobium.Statistical Analysis Used:Data were analyzed using the Scientific Package for Social Sciences version 15.Results:Cathodic antigen urine tests showed similar sensitivity to SDS and higher sensitivity compared to six Kato–Katz (reference diagnostic test).Conclusion:Cathodic antigen urine tests is a useful tool for mapping S. mansoni and may be used to evaluate the interruption of transmission.

Satellite-based evapotranspiration over Gezira Irrigation Scheme, Sudan: A comparative study

Understanding the spatio-temporal variation of actual evapotranspiration (ETa) over irrigated agricultural areas helps to manage water. Many remote sensing (RS) methods have been developed recently to estimate ETa. Nevertheless, selecting the suitable method is still a challenge. The objective of this research is to evaluate four RS methods for estimating ETa over the large-scale Gezira Scheme of Sudan. Three methods, namely Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL), Mapping EvapoTranspiration at High Resolution with Internalized Calibration (METRIC) and Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEB), were applied using Landsat images. Another RS dataset, i.e. ETa product from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite (MOD16A2), was also used in the comparison. The ETa methods were validated using field-scale water balance (WB) estimates during the 2004 crop season. Furthermore, the present study suggested the use of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and integrated NDVI (iNDVI) as an approach to assessing the performance of the ETa estimates from RS on daily and seasonal scales, respectively. Several performance measures were evaluated, and a score was given for each method in order to extract the most valuable information for water management out of four different methods. Based on ranking criteria, SSEB gave the best performance followed by SEBAL. METRIC is not suitable for estimating ETa where ground-data are limited. MOD16A2 was less sensitive to detection of ETa at field level because of pixel resolution, but it had high score at the scheme level. All methods showed similar spatial patterns of seasonal ETa, with a decreasing ETa gradient from southeast to northeast of the scheme. In conclusion, SSEB and MOD16A2 are seen as suitable operational ETa methods on the regional scale as both methods require less application time compared to the other complex models. SSEB has the advantage of estimating ETa on field scale and on daily basis. The results of this study contribute to improving the understanding of performance of such methods in large irrigation schemes in arid climate zones.

Simulation of Fine Sediment Transport in Irrigation Canals of the Gezira Scheme with the Numerical Model FSEDT

AbstractMost of the models developed to simulate the cohesive sediment transport processes refer to estuary or marine environments and are generally not developed for the specific characteristics of irrigation schemes provided with the different types of hydraulic structures. The aim of this study is to simulate the cohesive sediment transport in irrigation canals. The fine sediment transport (FSEDT) model was developed using a software program to estimate the sediment transport and deposition rates of cohesive sediments in irrigation canals. The model has been applied in the Gezira Scheme in Sudan, which is threatened by high sediment supply from the Blue Nile River. The model was calibrated and validated using the field data selected during the flood seasons in 2011 and 2012. The hydrodynamic part of the model was verified by comparing the water surface profile obtained by the developed model and by using a microcomputer program for simulating one-dimensional steady/unsteady flow in open canals. The res...

Economic Aspects of the Transformational Industries (TI) An Evaluation Study of Sudanese (TI) during (2004/2005 up to 2013/2014)

This study evaluates the performance of transformational industries (TI) in Sudan during the period (2004/2005 up to 2013/2014). This period represents the terminal point of the Comprehensive National Strategy, the period of the Five-Year plan and the beginning of the second Five-Year Plan of the Quarter-Century Strategy (2007/2008-2031/2032). This period is therefore appropriate for achieving indicators that provide evidence for the economic impact of this industry. This study aims to discuss the economics of (TI) from various aspects. Accordingly, the study adopts the descriptive analytical method that acknowledges the structure and the strategies related to the (TI), and clarifies TI’s economic role. The descriptive analytical method assesses the impact of (TI) on the GDP, the contribution of the export sector and the deficit in the balance of trade. To support its findings, the study draws comparisons between (TI) performance in Sudan and that in other countries. The most prominent findings of this study are: The (TI) contribution to the value added of products is low, with an average share in GDP around 10.5%. In addition, the (TI) average share in exports is about 0.24%, whereas the average share of imports from (TI) products is around 41.35%. This indicates that (TI) is not supporting the balance of trade, which explains the weak competitiveness of Sudanese (TI) relative to other countries in the region. Such findings are in agreement with the International Index of Specialization (IIS) data. The study confirms that (TI) in Sudan faces, some problems related to TI structure (locality, concentration, and size of industry) and (TI) types. Moreover, the financial and investment policies are focused on small and medium scale industries without the due attention to (TI). TI therefore failed to achieve the value added of its products or increase employment opportunities. The study also reveals that the infrastructure of (TI) did not consider the detrimental effects of the industry on the environment. The policies of some productive sectors negatively affected (TI). For instance, the edible oil and textile industries have been adversely affected by the introduction of wheat in place of cotton in the Gezira Scheme. In conclusion, the study made some recommendations to revive the (TI) in Sudan. It is important to improve the quality of (TI) products to gain competitive advantage. Large-scale industries must also be established and agglomerated in such a way that encourages forward, backward and vertical integration. An investment map should be designed consistent with the availability of resources’ of each region. It is necessity that regulations and administrative structures should put in place to improve performance.

CONTROL OF SCHISTOSOMIASIS IN THE GEZIRA IRRIGATION SCHEME, SUDAN.

This paper analyses the changing patterns of infection with Schistosoma mansoni and S. haematobium in the Gezira Irrigation Scheme, Sudan. Taking a historical perspective, it shows the way in which factors such as ecology, biology, social and economic variables and politics have shaped patterns of infection, and how different kinds of strategies have been developed to control schistosomal infection over time. Wider political and economic issues at both national and international levels have shaped these strategies, influencing the prevalence and intensity of schistosomal infection at a local level. By highlighting the inter-play between the above-mentioned factors, the article reflects on the wisdom of prioritizing community-directed mass drug administration for the control of schistosomiasis in Gezira and elsewhere. The review demonstrates that not all efforts to control schistosomiasis are sustainable. A comprehensive control strategy involving political commitment, community participation and socioeconomic development is important for sustainable control of schistosomal infection.

Economic Analysis of Cotton Production in the Gezira Scheme: 19 70- 2004

The Gezira Scheme contributes more than 50% of cotton produced in the Sudan. During the seventies up to late eighties cotton alone contributed between 45 and 65% of the total foreign currency earning. Fluctuation in area, production, average yield and, benefits started from the begging of nineties in addition to high cost of production year after year and Government agricultural policies. Therefore this study was an attempt to evaluate economic indicators (net present worth (NPW) and benefit cost ratio B/C ratio) of cotton production in the Gezira Scheme for the period (1970/71-2003/2004), also to compare three different periods of cotton production in Gezira (joint account system 1970/71-1980/81), (individual account system1981/82-1991/92), and (liberalization 192/93-2002/03) with respect to: Economic indicators (net present worth (NPW), benefit cost ratio B/C ratio), area, production and average yield. To identify some policy measures that may help to improve the production of cotton in the Gezira Scheme. The study mainly based on analysis of secondary data of cotton crop in Gezira Scheme. The methods of analysis used including the measurements of economic evaluation, descriptive statistics, simple mathematics, tabular analysis to describe the different periods. The study proved that the economic evaluation during the periods (1970/71-2003/2004), (1970/1971-1980/1981), (1981/1982-1991/1992) and (1992/1993-2003/2004) were feasible and positive, fluctuation in the benefits, costs, and net benefits related to the Government agricultural policy. It’s recommended that the Government agricultural policies should be proper and subsidized to agriculture particularly increasing the area of cotton crop, and reducing the cost of production are more important, downstream cotton processing for added value, up stream of cotton inputs processing for import substitutions and improving of cotton productivity through research development and extension is necessary.

Crop water productivity for sunflower under different irrigation regimes and plant spacing in Gezira Scheme, Sudan

Two field experiments with Sunflower on deep cracking soil with heavy clay (vertisol) were conducted at Gezira Research Station Farm during two executive winter seasons, in WadMedani, Sudan. The crop was sown in the third week of November and in the first week of December for seasons 2012 and 2013 respectively. The experimental design was split plot design with three replicates. The Sunflower hybrid tested in the study was Hysun 33. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of three different irrigation intervals of 10, 15 and 20 days and two intra-row plant spacings of 30 cm and 40 cm on yield and yield components of Sunflower. The seed yields obtained from the different treatments were in the ranges of 1890-3300 kg/ha and 1590-3290 kg/ha for the first and second season respectively. The corresponding computed on average crop water productivity was in the range of 0.31-0.43 kg/m3. The study clearly indicated that the highest seed yield was obtained when the crop was sown at 40 cm plant spacing and irrigated every 10 days. The highest crop water productivity was achieved from irrigation every15 days in both planting spacings