page_title: Agriculture in Sudan
section_title: Irrigated Agriculture
hierarchical_section_title: Agriculture in Sudan / Irrigated Agriculture
caption_attribution_description: Babur (بابور) is the local name for the four stroke single combustion diesel pump that revolutionized irrigation agriculture along the Nile. Photo is taken on Atram Island in Dar al-Manasir, North Sudan. (c) GFDL David Haberlah (Homepage of David Haberlah, david@haberlah.com)
context_page_description: In the early 1990s, agriculture and livestock raising were the main sources of livelihood in Sudan for about 61 percent of the working population. Approximately one-third of the total area of Sudan, the largest country on the African continent is suitable for agricultural development and heavier rainfall in the south permits both agriculture and herding by nomadic tribes.
  Agricultural products in total account for about 95 percent of the country's exports. In 1998 there was an estimated 16.9 million hectares of arable land and approximately 1.9 million hectares set aside for irrigation, primarily in the north of the country along the banks of the Nile and other rivers. Cash crops grown under irrigation in these areas include cotton and cottonseed, which is of primary importance to the economy with 172,000 tons and 131,000 tons produced annually respectively, sesame, sugarcane, peanuts, dates, citrus fruits, yams, tomatoes, mangoes, coffee, and tobacco. The main subsistence crops produced in Sudan are sorghum, millet, wheat, cowpeas, beans, pulses, maize, and barley.
context_section_description: In 1991 Sudan had a large modern irrigated agriculture sector totaling more than 2 million hectares out of about 84 million hectares that are potentially arable. About 93 percent of the irrigated area was in government projects; the remaining 7 percent belonged to private operations. The Nile and its tributaries were the source of water for 93 percent of irrigated agriculture, and of this the Blue Nile accounted for about 67 percent. Gravity flow was the main form of irrigation, but about one-third of the irrigated area was served by pumps.
caption: A Sudanese farmer operating an irrigation pump
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