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December 12, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – A prominent leading member of the ruling coalition Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) in Sudan has disclosed their intention to request the sack of the Minister of Agriculture, who has been appointed three months ago.
- A Sudanese farmer stands in a field of sorghum in Gezira state (Photo: AFP/File, Jose Cendon)
Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) figure Siddiq Youssef who is a member of the Central Council of the ruling coalition, said they would request Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok to relieve the Minister of Agriculture, Issa Osman Sharif of his position.
Sharif caused "the failure of the agricultural season," of the Gezira scheme, Sudan’s largest irrigation projects, Youssef said.
He further said that the FFC Central Council held a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the failure of the agriculture season for this year with the participation of the representatives of the farmers of the Gezira scheme.
The meeting discussed the failure of the agricultural season for wheat because the channels were not opened to allow the flow of water into the tenants of the Gezira Scheme, the communist official said.
Youssef further predicted the failure of the winter wheat season, stressing that the farmers claim that the minister bears responsibility for the possible failure of the season.
The Gezira scheme lies between the Blue and White Nile rivers south of Khartoum and is fed principally by gravity irrigation from Sennar Dam on the Blue Nile.
The farmers do not own their lands; they are tenants. The area is divided into 102,000 tenants with an average area of 20 feddan (about 8 hectares). Farmers do not own their lands; they are tenants. The area is divided into 102,000 tenants with an average area of 20 feddan (about 8 hectares), according to a report by the World Bank.
The main product of the scheme is cotton. Other crops are grown to help in the maintenance of soil fertility: wheat, groundnut, sorghum are cultivated in a four-course rotation, including fallow.
Over the past few days, activists on social media have raised concerns over the minister of agriculture’s failure in taking concrete steps to remove elements of the ousted regime from his ministry, unlike the other of the ministers.
(ST)
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