On Saturday, August 30, Prime Minister Kamil Idris visited the Al-Jazirah scheme and spoke to farmers and staff in Barakat. He said the state will introduce modern technology and urged farmers to adopt techniques to boost yields and revive the scheme. Sudan News Agency, SUNA, said he promised a new irrigation unit, activation of the Agricultural and Animal Production Professions Law, a rural women’s association and committee to address indebted farmers’ issues. Idris pledged to provide improved seed and winter cropping inputs and stressed the need for digital transformation at Al-Jazirah.
Technology in Umm Sufa era
With a wry jab at the prime minister’s pitch for new technology, an Al-Jazirah farmer told Atar that what he really needed, as he cleared weeds from the irrigation channel feeding his plot, was “a computer in the time of Umm Sufa.” Locals use “Umm Sufa” to describe the backbreaking, rudimentary task of farmhands hired by scheme management to pull weeds from the canals.
The work was common before modern excavators known as krakat arrived; in recent months, however, that manual labour has returned and, in many places, has replaced machines after the irrigation and dredging authority’s role diminished, the farmer said.
It is now normal to see farmers standing in channels pulling weeds and silt by hand. Beyond the serious health risks, the method does not fully accomplish the maintenance required; it is an emergency measure taken when excavators are unavailable.
Idris’ remarks in Barakat urging the adoption of modern techniques came at a moment when farmers have slid from high hopes into the harsh reality of losing gains built up over the scheme ’s century-long history.
This reporter found that many farmers paid little attention to the Prime Minister’s visit and no longer gather as they once did to hear visiting officials’ promises. They are, instead, occupied with clearing weeds and mud so water can reach thirsty fields that nearly turned to barren waste without occasional rains, or standing helpless before plots flooded by what they call “sea and rain,” with no way to drain them. Between those two states, large tracts have been taken out of production this season, a development that, farmers say, Idris either did not notice or was not told about.
Political theatre
Our problem isn’t the absence of computers. Our problems are with farming itself on a scheme that has fallen back light-years.
- Farmer MB
Farmer “MB,” who works in one of the Al-Jazirah scheme ’s divisions, told Atar that the Prime Minister’s visit skipped “the heart of the matter.” He said the core problem is the irrigation channels choked with weeds and silt that block the flow of water, even as excavators and dredging machines are all but absent and fuel to run the few machines that remain is unavailable.
He mocked the Prime Minister’s call for modern technology when farmers lack the most basic tools.
“Our problem isn’t the absence of computers,” he said. “Our problems are with farming itself on a scheme that has fallen back light-years.”
He added that Idris’ speech “leapt over plain facts and raced forward, ignoring the problems that are destroying the scheme and its farmers.”
MB pointed to soaring fertilizer prices as a central crisis, saying a sack of urea now costs 170,000 pounds, about the same price as a sack of corn.
“Farmers have come to believe visits and protocols bring no real results. Promises are made, but the outcome is zero,” he said, explaining why many now boycott such visits.
MB said most cultivated plots are now out of production because there are not enough excavators. Large areas are either waterlogged or parched, he said, as silt buildup traps water at the heads of canals and prevents it from reaching the far end. He termed the Prime Minister’s and the Al-Jazirah governor’s remarks “out of touch, wishful, and merely political theatre
Not far from MB’s view, farmer AA told Atar the Prime Minister’s trip was meaningless because, in his view, the premier does not understand the scheme ’s problems. He accused officials within the Al-Jazirah scheme administration and the state government of ignoring specific trouble spots and deliberately hiding full facts from the federal government so that the local authorities do not have to admit failure.
If Idris stopped by even a few sites in the Maslamiyya section, he would see shocking thirst and endless problems.
Farmer AA
He said those officials steered the visit toward areas that do not suffer from agricultural problems, places like the ones the Prime Minister toured, to give the impression the scheme only lacks modern technology.
“If Idris stopped by even a few sites in the Maslamiyya section, he would see shocking thirst and endless problems,” AA said.
A leap beyond
In another section of the scheme, farmer TA planted his plot with corn this summer after spending on ploughing and seed. He sold one cow for fertilizer. Now his crop is hit by a pest called the corn midge, or al-asla, spreading through maize fields.
Farmers blame scarce rain, high humidity and lack of pesticides. The farmer told Atar that the scheme ’s agricultural research authority used to detect such diseases early and supply medicines and pesticides, but it was partly dismantled after the 2005 law and then wrecked by the war: equipment was looted and staff scattered.
“If Idris knew, or was meant to know, he would have spoken about the research authority and ordered for pesticides to fight the pests instead of talking about matters that do not concern us now,” the farmer said, lamenting:
“We are tired of hollow talk. Former President Omar al-Bashir once promised four-wheel drives for all; in the end we sold or rented parts of our plots to eat. So, we ignore such statements because their rhetoric and our reality are worlds apart and such promises fail to help.”
Farmer MH told Atar that the Prime Minister overlooked a simple fact: farming follows strict seasons. He welcomed the announcement of a special irrigation unit for the Al-Jazirah scheme but questioned its worth when the scheme lacks the machinery needed to dig and clear canals. He urged the Prime Minister to match his pledge with immediate steps to import equipment, noting that only two months remain before the winter planting season begins. Many farmers, he said, had already lost hope in the missed summer crop and left their plots uncultivated—reasons the Prime Minister ignored as he leapt ahead.
He criticized the Prime Minister’s remarks about activating agricultural and livestock professions at Al-Jazirah. He told Atar that it is the farmers to decide the union representing them.They alone may choose their representatives.
By law, farmers also control how to run their unions and associations. On indebted farmers, MH said a committee is not the answer; the Prime Minister should issue debt relief because he must compensate farmers rather than demand payment.
Ibrahim Taha, a leader in the Al-Jazirah and Managil Farmers Alliance, told Atar that the Prime Minister’s speech carried several positives. A dedicated law for the scheme, he said, would help safeguard its unity; integrating irrigation with management could improve performance; and the pledges to fund the winter season are significant.
Without clear deadlines and guarantees, the Prime Minister’s words remain abstract, and farmers will avoid loans for fear of ending the season at the mercy of market forces.
- Ibrahim Taha, leader of the Al-Jazirah and Managil Farmers Alliance
But Taha questioned the mechanisms and timelines for carrying out these measures, warning that integration is meaningless without equipment to dig and clear canals. Funding pledges, he added, will not suffice unless authorities also set a clear, guaranteed purchase price for wheat and identify the buyer—ideally the scheme administration or the Agricultural Bank.
Without those assurances, he said, the Prime Minister’s words risk remaining abstract, and farmers will avoid loans for fear of ending the season at the mercy of market forces. Taha urged swift action, insisting that clear deadlines and logistics be published so farmers can plan effectively.
Debate and Struggle
Media reports say farmer Abdel Salam Al-Shami, former head of the Agricultural and Animal Production Associations—an alternative union formed after the 2005 law—told the Prime Minister the scheme needs an authority for reconstruction and development, a debt-resolution committee, a governing board, exemption from summer fees, and urgent fixes for irrigation.
Farmer Al-Tayeb Al-Imam Gouda, a popular leader from Sirhan, proposed reorganizing agricultural professions under the 2011 law. Speaking as a farmers’ representative, he also called for Al-Jazirah state control, denied claims the scheme was not national, and argued it could self-finance without state support.
By contrast, farmer Tahera Abbas Al-Hasan urged the Prime Minister to prioritize the scheme and establish new financing mechanisms, while Nour Eldin, representative of the Harqa scheme, pressed for electricity solutions by providing pumps after the governor secured the first grid connection.
Many farmers told Atar they strongly rejected ending state funding, blamed its withdrawal for the scheme’s collapse, and urged the government to resume responsibility. One farmer said Gouda’s speech handed the state an excuse for failed support and wrongly presented his stance as the voice of all farmers.
Gouda, who rose to prominence during the war as a commander in the armed popular resistance against the RSF and has clashed with Abdel Salam Al-Shami, embodies the tensions now shaping the scheme’s politics. The exchange underscored deep divisions among farmers, unions, and scheme officials over the future of Al-Jazirah, its governance, and responsibility for funding and immediate remedies.
