Gezira Scheme

The project Jazirah (also Gezira project, English Gezira Scheme) is a project of the Sudanese government to increase agricultural production in the Jazirah plain south of Khartoum. It is one of the world's largest irrigation projects.

History

A British group began the project in 1911 as a research project for the cultivation of cotton on an area of ​​about one square kilometer (250 feddans ) in Wad Madani in the former Anglo -Egyptian Sudan. The necessary water was first removed with pumps from the Blue Nile.

The project met the expectations and so it was decided in 1914 to expand the project area. For this, the Sennar dam and a canal system should be built to guide the waters of the Blue Nile in the natural gradient to the fields. The First World War interrupted the first construction of the dam, but consumed by irrigated area increased to 1924 to around 92 km ² ( 22,000 feddans ). After the completion of the dam in 1925 it increased continuously and reached up to the independence of the Sudan on 1 January 1956 approximately 4200 km ² ( 1,000,000 feddans ). By al - Managil extension that was created from 1958 to 1962, and the construction of the 1966 completed Roseires dam, the area grew again to a total of around 8820 km ² ( 2.1 million feddans ). Thus, the Jazirah project has about 50 percent the largest share of irrigated agriculture in Sudan. For a long time, it contributed 35 % to the Sudanese GDP.

Description

The approximately 8820 km ² of the project fill most of the uniformly slightly inclined downstream to the north Gezira level and can therefore be completely watered by the natural fall. The clay and therefore slightly water-bearing soils prevent water seepage, even if they are not ideal under agricultural aspects. The water of the Blue Nile is ideal for watering, even after 65 years no Versalzungsprobleme have occurred, apart from a few fans on the edge at Khartoum.

The irrigation project is supplied by the Sennar Dam with two parallel main channels with a capacity of 354 m³ / s, which is followed by a network of 2300 km side channels and about 1,500 smaller channels together with 8000 km. The channels must be continuously stripped of aquatic plants and sediments, for which a larger machinery is employed.

The project is managed by the Ministry of Irrigation ( Department of Irrigation ) and the Sudan Gezira Board, which for more than 7,000 employees work ( as of 2000), of which, however, are a big part assistants to operate the individual weirs.

The area is leased to farmers in 120,000 units from an average of 8 ha, there is no private ownership of the fields. The farmers are obliged to carry out the installation instructions of the administration, they have little influence on the cultivation. It is estimated that no longer more than half of the tenants involved in agriculture, but these works have given to sub- tenants or migrant workers.

Cultivation

For the export and own consumption mainly cotton, Durra, peanuts, vegetables, corn, fruit and wheat are produced. Of this amount 1992/1993 on each of the products following acreage:

In order to maintain soil fertility is used in the cultivation of the following crop rotation:

The mid-1980s also began to integrate livestock into the project, such as the keeping of cows for milk production and poultry.

The project further includes its own railway, the railway - Jazeera, which is responsible for transportation of the tool and to the products of the fields. Also, the project takes on the responsibility for the further processing and marketing through its own warehouses, 13 for cotton ginners and a dairy cooperative in Barakat near Wad Madani.