South Sudan needs to mechanize agriculture

By Maker Costa

January 14, 2008 — Most of us would agree that one of our shortcomings as Africans in general and in southern Sudan in particular, is our inability then and unwillingness now to mechanize our means of production. Mechanization was the very thing that ignited the industrial revolution in Europe some centuries ago; our situation in southern Sudan is no different from that of Europe then. One, rather conspicuous, sector that is still so primitive to the core in southern Sudan is the agricultural sector. Despite its huge potentials in the fertile lands of southern Sudan, you hardly see a tractor in southern Sudan, let alone harvesters, irrigation systems, and modern machineries that you would expect to see in territories like south Sudan.

The best form of agriculture that we still have in southern Sudan now is the newly introduced animal-powered farming, the worst being our traditional and rather primitive ways that we inherited from the dark ages. While animals now constitute a major source of energy in farming systems in the south, their use is still far from being scientific and economical and often fail to attain self-reliance regarding food security; thus, it is high time now that we gradually start to mechanize our farming processes whenever possible; thanks to technical developments now adays.

Since south Sudan is not yet ready for private investment, at least, in the agricultural sector, our government should pave the way by bringing in innovative and cost-effective methods. The following steps could help jump-start the processes:

Provide tractors to be hired to farmers in all the ten state of the south
Import powered tillers and farm implements for both rain-fed and irrigated farms (if there any)
Conduct research as to what crops should be sown on what soil and provide that information to the farmers
Produce, develop, and utilize small farm machineries and equipments applicable to the prevailing general conditions of the agricultural sector in southern Sudan
Subsidize the agricultural sector.
Introduce small-scale manufacturing plants as a market for farmers. These plants would produce food oil, soaps, confections, and other related products

These steps, I believe, can improve the quality of living in southern Sudan and, may be, the humiliating scenes of relief agencies helping southerners would cease to exist, once and for all.

One shortcoming, however, of mechanized rain-fed agriculture is that there is always a relative unpredictability attached to it, which is why planners in the Sudan had always tended to concentrate their efforts on irrigation schemes, of which the Sudan is now reliant. However, other parts of the Sudan which use the same method are well developed agriculturally like in eastern Sudan sorghum schemes in Al-gadarif, and the cotton in Al-jazeira Scheme in central Sudan; these are hyper-productive schemes, even though they are all irrigated. This success could be mimicked in the south because we already have schemes in place like the rise scheme in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, the sorghum scheme in Ameth-e-duol (Lakes State), cotton scheme in Western Equatoria, sugar cane scheme in Mungula, and the very successful sorghum schemes in Renk (Northern Upper Nile).

Our government needs to put a considerable amount of money, research, and planning into the agricultural development which, in turn, will relieve the government from a colossal burden. It is not idealism per se, but mechanizing our farming methods is affordable, profitable, and self-sustaining; in addition, it presents a viable solution to our economical backwardness.

One hopes that our Ministry of Agriculture is already ahead of these suggestions, i.e., one hopes that the ministry has already engaged in research, identification, and is now carrying out some of its plans in that regards; otherwise, it should start now and immediately. It was a surprise to many southerners that the Ministry of Agriculture did not spend all its allocated money in the previous budget, because most people thought that this ministry would need even more money than what was allocated in the first place.

All in all, I would say what I have been saying all along; bring in those southerners who have done some studies on the issue, just for the betterment of our emerging nation. It is to be noted that a lot of research has been done in the past of which some are still accessible now either in the federal ministry of agricultures or in our higher education institutions like Juba University. Simply, our officials in GoSS need to get on their feet and do something. We have the research and plans ready, and we have the money now; thus, some improvement must be seen.

Maker Costa is a Sudanese residing in New York; could be reached at [email protected]