Question: why does sudan have a low percentage of arable land

title: Agriculture in Sudan
text: In the late 1970s , about 2.2 million hectares had been allocated for mechanized farming , and about 420,000 hectares more had been occupied without official demarcation . About 1.9 million hectares in all were believed to be under cultivation in any one season . Of the officially allocated land , more than 70 percent was held by private individuals . Private companies had also begun entering the field , and some allocations had been made to them . State farms accounted for another 7.5 percent . About 15 percent of the total allocated land was in MFC - IDA projects . The largest proportion of mechanized farming was in Ash Sharqi Province , 43 percent ; the next largest in Al Awsat Province , 32 percent ; and about 20 percent was in Aali an Nil Province . Mechanized farming had also been initiated in southern Kurdufan Province through a project covering small - scale farmers in the area of the Nuba Mountains , but under a different government program . Proposals also have been made for MFC projects using mechanized equipment in other areas of southern Kurdufan ( some have already been tried ) and southern Darfur provinces . There were serious feasibility problems in view of competition for land and conflicts with traditional farming practices , difficult soil conditions , and the probable negative effect on the large numbers of livestock of nomads .