Sustainability Assessment of Agricultural Mechanization in the Gezira Scheme, Sudan

Abstract

Gezira Scheme covering about 0.9 million hectares, located in a semi-arid region. It is one of the biggest gravity-irrigation schemes in Africa and the Arab world. Crops grown in this scheme include cotton, groundnut and sorghum for summer period and wheat for the winter period. Over 130,000 farmers are enrolled in this irrigation scheme with different levels of mechanization and availability of agricultural inputs. This paper assesses the sustainability of agricultural mechanization in Gezira Scheme through quantitative and qualitative data analysis. Field surveys, stakeholder interviews, publications and government documents served as information sources. The SWOT and PESTLE analyses were conducted to identify internal strengths and weaknesses as well as external opportunities and threats in terms of the sustainability of agricultural mechanization. Results revealed that the average power availability was low to moderate (0.41 hp/ha), while tractor density reached about one tractor per 200 hectares. The presence of a substantial difference in the level of mechanization among different crops with wheat being the most mechanized (96.7%) and groundnut the least (20.4%). Mechanization constituted 26.3% of the cost of wheat production; while harvesting was the costliest mechanized activity, taking up 29.7% of the cost. Although there are some problems in terms of very high machinery cost, shortage of fuel, and availability of suitable implements. One of the most important suggestions raised by this study is that it is necessary to increase the efficiency of implements used in the scheme. Mechanization has significantly contributed to increasing crop productivity especially wheat, but its use is still low for groundnut and cotton.