35.0 56.0 91.0 9.0 Most of the soils of East Kordofan are described as sandy soils. All the sites taken for study have sandy soils except Sherkeila and Regiela, most of whose agricultural land is clay though the villages themselves are located on dunes. It has already been shown that degradation of the environment as a result of the removal of vegetation cover and over-use has occurred. To assess the degree of impact on the soils, soil texture analysis was carried out. Table 9 shows that at Kadada the percentage of coarse sand is high, while the control village, Abu La'ot, has a lower coarse sand fraction.
Vegetation cover helps to stabilize the soil.
Its degradation not only makes it easier for the finer particles to be removed by wind and water but also affects the nitrogen content of the soil, leading to a decrease in soil fertility. Despite these attempts degradation and loss of soil fertility is very severe in the older villages. This process has a negative impact on the vegetation cover and may increase the aridity, which will have effects on the micro-climate. As a result of these impacts emigration will occur. East Kordofan District is known to be one of the main areas that supplies cotton-pickers to the Gezira Scheme.