Saving the Winter Season and Ending Irrigation Chaos: Gezira Farmers Applaud Presidential Donation

Sudanhorizon- Hala Hamza

Sudanese Farmers in the Gezira and Managil schemes have praised the decision by the Chairman of the Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan—issued within the last two days—to allocate 50 billion Sudanese pounds to support fuel and irrigation pumps for the project, in addition to allocating vehicles for agricultural use.
Speaking to Sudanhorizon, the farmers stated that these measures would help put an end to the current chaos and ensure that every farmer in the project receives their fair share of irrigation water.
Nasser Jibril, a farmer in the Gezira and Managil region, described the Sovereign Council Chairman’s decisions as timely.
In his remarks Jibril urged for the swift implementation of the decision, enabling farmers to make the most of the winter agricultural season and compensate for the shortfalls experienced during the previous summer season.
He further called for the deployment of Economic Security personnel to guard water stations, alongside active oversight by the local administration to monitor the land allocated for the winter season.
He noted that these steps would help resolve the prevailing disorder, ensuring that every farmer in the project—particularly in the Matori sector—can access their rightful share of irrigation water.
Jibril expressed the farmers’ optimism regarding the success of this initiative, given that it comes directly from the Chairman of the Sovereign Council. “We hope,” he said, “that this will help us move past the hardships of the ‘lean years’ that the country—and the agricultural sector and its workforce—have endured due to the ongoing security and economic deterioration.”
The Chairman of the Sovereign Council announced an allocation to the Gezira and Managil Scheme during a recent meeting with a delegation of farmers and producers from the project. He directed that 22 agricultural vehicles be provided to farmers’ and producers’ associations to assist in clearing the scheme’s irrigation canals, in addition to 20 vehicles allocated to the Council for the Regulation of Agricultural Production Professions.

Mustafa Al-Tarifi, a farmer within the scheme, told Sudanhorizon that this presidential action demonstrates Al-Burhan’s awareness of the Gezira Scheme’s economic significance—as it serves as the engine of the Sudanese economy—especially at a time when the country is facing an “economic war.”
Al-Tarifi emphasized that the current challenge requires resolving production-related issues. He called for addressing the severe shortage in rainfall—particularly in rain-fed agricultural areas—to prevent a potential food gap, noting the significant negative impact this scarcity has had on certain crops.
Meanwhile, Othman Ibrahim Ali, a farmer from the Fahl and Al-Hajj Abdullah districts, told Sudanhorizon that the prevailing approach to agriculture remains disconnected from the realities on the ground. He noted that the delegation that met with the Sovereign Council Chairman failed to clearly articulate the essential agricultural needs of the scheme.
He pointed out that the project’s infrastructure—including minor canals and intermediate bridges—is in a state of disrepair. He questioned how an ordinary farmer, lacking the funds to excavate the *Abu Ishrin* (the secondary irrigation ditches essential for cultivation), could possibly manage to farm at all.
He expressed hope that the donation would be directed toward providing *Abu Ishrin* excavators for each section, serving as a foundation for a broader fleet of agricultural machinery capable of maintaining canals, embankments, and repairing breaches. Ali stated: “Farmers in the project are struggling with damaged irrigation canals. Furthermore, the Al-Gezira and Al-Managil canals—from kilometer zero to kilometer 57, which is the first regulator downstream from the dam—are choked with weeds. There are four meters of weeds along each bank, meaning eight meters out of the total twenty-meter width are effectively rendered unusable.”
He explained that water flows through only 12 meters of the channel, leading to persistent water shortages. As a result, the winter cropping season—much like the summer season before it—has been lost to production, turning farming into an increasingly unviable and unattractive profession.

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