This paper examines development programmes in the Sudan which were influenced by the Gezira Scheme, the world’s largest irrigated agribusiness, established in the 1930s. Under President Jafar Nimeiri (1969-1983), the Sudan set out on an ambitious series of plans designed to tap the Sudan’s agricultural potential. The stated goal of Nimeiri’s plans was to make the Sudan the ‘breadbasket of the Arab world’. Twenty years after these plans were first announced in 1969, they generally are regarded as failures. The paper places these projects within a historical context and assesses their basic feasibility. The projects undertaken during Nimeiri’s regime included mechanization in the Gezira and other schemes, in particular the Wadi Halfa and Rahad Schemes. As a group, irrigated schemes ran into serious problems under Nimeiri. Specifically, mechanization tended to help only wealthier tenants, while hurting labourers. In contrast to the irrigated sector, the rain-fed, mechanized agriculture sector became a major factor in the economy as a result of Nimeiri’s policies, although this sector was not without problems either. Another development project undertaken by the Nimeiri regime was the construction of the Jonglei Canal in the south, but ultimately, nothing really came of this project. Notes, ref.
