Rising Farming Costs Threaten Wheat Season in Sudan
Soaring input prices, weak financing and damaged irrigation force farmers to cut wheat planting at Sudan’s flagship Gezira agricultural project.
Rising production costs are putting Sudan’s winter wheat season under severe strain at the Gezira Scheme, the country’s largest irrigated agricultural project, prompting many farmers to cut back planted areas or switch to cheaper crops.
Agricultural indicators from Gezira state point to mounting pressure on the winter season as sharply higher input costs collide with weak farmer financing capacity, directly shrinking the area planted with wheat, according to Radio Dabanga.
Mohamed Saeed, a farmers’ representative on the Gezira Scheme administration, said costs for winter crops — particularly wheat — have risen dramatically, pushing a large number of farmers to reduce acreage or turn to less expensive alternatives.
“Most farmers have refrained from dealing with the Agricultural Bank because of fears of losses and financial obligations,” Saeed told Radio Dabanga, noting that the bank requires farmers to pay 25 per cent of total costs upfront to access financing.
He said land preparation and fertiliser purchases now require sums running into billions of Sudanese pounds, while the success of the season remains uncertain due to weak irrigation and water shortages. Although the scheme’s management and irrigation unit are making efforts, Saeed said available machinery is limited and of poor quality relative to the vast scale of the project and the complexity of its main and secondary canals.
The governor of the Gezira Scheme, Ibrahim Mustafa, has announced the start of preparations for the winter season, targeting the cultivation of 400,000 feddans of wheat. The plan is to be financed by the finance ministry through the Agricultural Bank of Sudan. Mustafa has urged farmers to approach the bank to collect inputs, saying financial and administrative arrangements are complete for the season to begin on schedule.
Located between the Blue Nile and White Nile rivers, the Gezira Scheme covers about 2.2mn feddans, making it one of the largest agricultural projects in the world and historically central to Sudan’s food security and export earnings.
Saeed expects wheat planting this season to remain limited, as farmers shift to lower-cost crops such as fava beans, lentils, chickpeas, tomatoes and vegetables.
He said some farmers have travelled to Port Sudan to procure di-ammonium phosphate and urea fertilisers through individual efforts.
“Work is continuing within the available means, but the damage is extensive,” Saeed said, expressing hope that conditions could return to what they were before the Rapid Support Forces entered Gezira state. He estimated current production at between 50 and 60 per cent of normal levels, with expectations of improvement next year.
Irrigation problems remain unresolved, Saeed added. While main canals have been rehabilitated, many secondary channels are still damaged and choked with weeds. Some were deliberately breached by residents seeking to protect their villages during the RSF’s advance. Large areas left uncultivated during the summer were expected to be planted in winter to offset losses, but the scale of canal damage exceeds the capacity of technical units.
The war has inflicted widespread destruction on the Gezira Scheme, which includes more than 130,000 farmers across 3,000 villages and about 2,200 settlements, supporting nearly four million farmers and seasonal and permanent workers. During the period of RSF control, project assets, machinery and inputs were looted, irrigation systems collapsed and farmers were subjected to intimidation, preventing many from cultivating their land.
The difficulties facing Gezira underscore how Sudan’s broader conflict — now in its third year — continues to undermine domestic wheat production, deepening reliance on imports at a time of severe foreign currency shortages and worsening food insecurity.