CHAPTER CAPTIONS FOR PHOTOS AND FIGURES
CHAPTER 8: AGRICULTURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Opening photograph:
Photo 8.0: In this view of the Jebel Berkel archeological site in Northern state, a thin irrigated strip of date palms bordering the Nile is visible in the background. The Nile has supported agriculture in the Sahara desert for over 5,000 years, but upstream dam construction is threatening the existence of this ancient and previously sustainable form of cultivation.
8.1Introduction and assessment activities
Introduction
Assessment activities
8.2 Overview of agriculture in Sudan
The largest economic sector in Sudan
Figure 8.1: Major agricultural schemes
The largest irrigated area in sub-Saharan Africa
A livestock herd of over 130 million
8.3Cross-cutting environmental issues and impacts
Population pressure, conflict and displacement linkages
Climate and climate change
Desertification and other forms of land degradation
Invasive species: the mesquite tree in northern and eastern Sudan
8.4Mechanized rain-fed agriculture sector impacts and issues
Photo 8.4a: A typical mechanized agriculture landscape in Dali, Sennar state, with Mount Moya providing some relief to an otherwise flat topography.
Photo 8.4b: The tractor has enabled a massive expansion of mechanized agriculture, fundamentally altering the landscape of central Sudan, as here in Gedaref state.
Photo 8.5c: Although authorities require that at least ten percent of all new mechanized agricultural schemes be protected by shelter belts, implementation is irregular and problematic.
A history of rapid and uncontrolled development
Destruction of forests and pre-existing agricultural and social systems
Soil depletion, yield collapse, desertification and abandonment
8.5Traditional rain-fed agriculture sector impacts and issues
Population pressure and a lack of development
The core of food security for Sudan
Unsustainable land clearing and crop-raising observed in all areas
Figure 8.3: Expansion of slash-and-burn agriculture in Yambio.
Land class analysis of satellite images from Yambio District in Western Equatoria, Southern Sudan, illustrates the pace and scale of the expansion of slash-and-burn agriculture in the region. Between 1973 and 2006, cleared agricultural land increased from 6.8 percent of the study area to 27.7 percent, mainly at the expense of closed forest and wooded grasslands.
Difficult choices facing the sector
8.6Mechanized irrigation sector environmental impacts and issues
The major irrigation schemes
Ongoing pesticide management problems
Photo 8.6a: The Gezira scheme main canal and the Managil extension are also used by farmers for drinking water and fishing.
Photo 8.6b: Over 250,000 ha of cultivated land are sprayed annually in the Gezira scheme.
Photo 8.6c: In addition to the lack of protective gear, derelict and leaky equipment exposes workers of the Crop Protection Department in El Kajara, Gedaref, to serious occupational health hazards.
Photo 8.6d: Pesticide application by untrained and ill-equipped farmers, such as here in the New Halfa scheme in Kassala state, is a growing problem.
Photo 8.6e: The head of the Technical Centre for Pesticide Spraying at the Kenana Sugar Company explains the use of modern application techniques and selective pesticides.
Obsolete pesticide stockpiles: a major hazard
Photo 8.6f: Damaged pesticide imports in Port Sudan.
Potentially unsustainable expansion plans into desert regions
Water pollution from sugar factories
Canal siltation, soil salinization and yield reduction
8.7Traditional irrigation sector impacts and issues
A highly productive system under threat
Photo 8.7a: Encroaching sand dunes, seen here in Arji in Northern state, threaten to smother the narrow strip of arable land along the Nile’s floodplain, which sustains thousands of communities.
Photo 8.7b: Cultivation of the highly fertile ‘gerf’ lands in Khartoum state.
Photo 8.7c: Encroaching sands have displaced entire communities, such as the people of the village of Jadallah in Nile state.
8.8 Livestock husbandry impacts and issues
Rangeland degradation and shrinkage
The evidence for rangeland degradation
Figure 8.6: Land degradation in Renk district, Upper Nile state. In this 2,500 km² area, the rangeland is a mix of open grassland and bushland. In 1973, open rangeland made up 6.9 percent of the total land area, but had fallen to 2.8 percent by 2006, when fragmentation of the areas was very apparent. Bare and degraded land increased from 0.8 percent of the total area in 1973 to 15.4 percent in 2006. Some of the abandoned cultivated land has reverted to bushland and could potentially be used for grazing but it has major access constraints.
Photo 8.8a: Agricultural encroachment onto pastoral migration routes, as evidenced here by the uprooted path markers in the region of Wad el Kabo in Gedaref state, is a major cause of conflict.
Photo 8.8b: When pasture is limited, pastoralists often resort to slashing trees trunks and branches to enable their livestock to feed on the otherwise unreachable parts of the tree, as seen here in the Al Ruwashida forest reserve in Gedaref state.
Photo 8.8c: Herders set fire to the Um Hureiza forest reserve in Sennar state before the onset of the rains.
The primary cause of overgrazing: overstocking
The second cause of overgrazing: a major reduction in rangelands in central and northern Sudan
Figure 8.7: Loss of rangeland in El Obeid district. This time lapse satellite image of El Obeid shows a 57.6 percent increase in cultivated land over the period 1973 to 1999. This increase is achieved at the expense of pastoralism, as indicated by the 33.5 percent reduction in rangeland over the same period. In one generation, a third of the pastoralists’ territory has been lost or converted to cultivation. Given that this region is considered to be extremely vulnerable to desertification, the sustainability of the intense land use noted here is highly questionable.
Figure 8.4: Annual pastoral migration routes in Sudan. The indicated routes are general and include only the largest scale movements. Numerous and often contrasting smaller scale movements occur on a local and seasonal level.
Figure 8.5: Pastoral migration routes in Darfur. The very mapping or classification of pastoral routes in Darfur is a contentious issue, particularly as many routes have been blocked or changed by the recent conflict. These routes as indicated from government sources show the scale of seasonal migration and the multiplicity of potential routes but the actual lines of travel and the associated rights are not always confirmed or agreed, either in a legal sense or in the sense of having community level acceptance.
Rangeland burning in southern and central Sudan
Figure 8.10: Rangeland burning in Jonglei state.
8.9 Agricultural sector environmental governance
Sector governance structure and issues
Land tenure
8.10Conclusions and recommendations
Conclusions
Background to the recommendations
Recommendations for the Government of National Unity
Recommendations for the Government of Southern Sudan
Case studies
CS8.1 Positive and negative aspects of mesquite
Figure 8.2: The spread of mesquite in the Tokar delta.
Photo CS8.1a: A mesquite thicket in Red Sea state.
Photo CS8.1b: Clearing mesquite in the Tokar delta, Red Sea state.
CS8.2 Gum Arabic production
Photo CS8.2a: A gum arabic farmer from the Jawama’a tribe, from El Darota in the heartland of Northern Kordofan’s gum belt. Farmers not only rely on gum harvests for income and sustenance, but also highly appreciate its value as a back-up for crop failure during periods of low rainfall.
Photo CS8.2b: A freshly exuded ‘gum tear’. Sudan is the world’s largest exporter of gum arabic, though its stake is reportedly declining. Supply has been affected by the conflict in Darfur.
Photo CS8.2c: Badly degraded ‘Karab’ lands near El Azaza Maya, dominated by Calotropis procera, a pioneer species that spreads in degraded soils and disturbed landscapes. These areas were previously vegetated by Acacia senegal and Acacia mellifera (Kitr) and prized as prime rangeland.
CS8.3 Obsolete pesticide storage: three extremely hazardous sites
Photo CS8.3a: This cement-lined pit in Hasahesa – where an obsolete pesticide stockpile has been buried – has cracked, releasing a strong stench and exposing groundwater to a high risk of contamination.
Photo CS8.3b: Highly hazardous and persistent heptachlor was buried in Hasahesa. [INSET THIS PHOTO INTO CS8.3a]
Photo CS8.3c: An estimated 110,000 litres of very hazardous endosulfan have leaked into the ground at the main Rahad Irrigation Scheme warehouse in El Fao.
CS8.4 Land degradation due to cattle-rearing in Southern Sudan
Figure 8.8: Grazing impact in Bor county, Jonglei state.
Figure 8.9: Grazing impact in Kapoeta county, Eastern Equatoria.
Photo CS8.4a: A Mundari tribe cattle camp by the White Nile in Central Equatoria at the start of the wet season 2006.