Decline in Cultivation of Targeted areas with Wheat Crop
Sudan Events – Rehab Abdullah
A report issued by the Ministry of Agriculture revealed a deficit in cultivating all targeted areas of wheat for the winter agricultural season (2023-2024) in Gezira state, as the total cultivated areas amounted to 320,000 acres of wheat out of a total targeted area of 450,000 acres, and it was able to harvest 310,000 acres of the total cultivated areas with a productivity of 412,370 tons.
The report issued by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture on wheat production in the states of the Northern ,Gezira , White Nile and Halfa for the winter agricultural season (2023-2024) indicated that large cultivated areas in White Nile state were exposed to flooding, which led to a decrease in productivity to 48,470 tons, and the cultivated area amounted to 50,000 acres out of a total targeted area of 120,000 .
The harvested areas decreased to 37,000 acres. The report showed that the targeted area for wheat cultivation in the Northern state was 152,000 acres, of which 126,000 acres were cultivated, and the harvested areas amounted to 112,729 acres with a productivity of 170,000 tons, while the productivity of the New Halfa Project amounted to 28,546 tons in an area of 36,598,000 acres of wheat. The report explained the extent of the significant decline in the cultivated and harvested wheat areas due to the many problems that accompanied the preparation for the season due to the absence of the government’s role in light of the war that the country is witnessing, which led to the erosion of the cultivated areas due to the state of security chaos, and the major obstacle for farmers in Gezira state, particularly since the harvest time came and the state had fallen under the control of the Rapid Support RSF Militia, which caused some farmers to fail to harvest large areas, resulting in huge losses incurred by farmers. Farmers indicated their failure to harvest after the Rapid Support RSF Militia penetrated Gezira Scheme sections and the harvester owners withdrew their machinery from the area.
