Sudanese people have long been accustomed to working collectively, beginning with the nafeer, a rudimentary form of communal organisation that has survived to this day, and extending to modern organisational formations such as professional associations, trade unions, political parties, and others. Nor have organisations concerned with securing people’s livelihoods been absent: consumer and agricultural cooperatives have emerged across the country. Here, we have chosen to tell the story of agricultural associations in Al-Gadarif State.
Mutawakkil Haroun, from As-Shwak locality in Al-Gadarif State, is a farmer and a member of an agricultural association in the village of Madak. “Our association was established in 2014,” he said. He explained that the association grew out of a project called “Food Security,” implemented by the state Ministry of Agriculture with funding from the European Union and targeting 80 male and female farmers in As-Shwak locality over four years.
Our houses used to be roofed with straw; then they became corrugated iron. Our huts used to be mud; then they became brick.
Mutawakkil Haroun, farmer and member of the Good Relations Association
The project sought to equip farmers with modern agricultural techniques. Each farmer was allocated five feddans, and specialised agricultural companies participated in implementing the project. Mutawakkil added that in the following season, after the 2014 season, the ministry suggested that they organise themselves into associations by bringing together 30 farmers whose cultivated plots were adjacent to one another at a single location, rather than farming individually.
“I was one of 30 farmers in an agricultural association registered with the Registrar-General of Agricultural Associations until the project came to an end in 2018,” he said.
Mutawakkil recounted that the experience was both profitable and beneficial. Thanks to modern farming techniques, they harvested abundant crops and were able to establish savings funds, which improved their financial circumstances. In his words, “Our houses used to be roofed with straw; then they became corrugated iron. Our huts used to be mud; then they became brick.”
Mutawakkil continued, “In 2019, the number of associations in our village doubled until there were 11. They are known as ‘grassroots associations’ and are linked through a single administrative structure for the village called the network. We registered them as well, after lengthy and complicated procedures.”
Alongside the experience they had already acquired in modern farming techniques, Mutawakkil said, the organisation ZOA also conducted training workshops for them. In 2019, they were able to cultivate 20 feddans of sorghum, producing 18 sacks per feddan.
“As for financing, there are two types,” Mutawakkil explained. “Either financing comes to the network as a whole, or it goes to the grassroots associations. The same applies to farming: in the village, agricultural projects are cultivated either as a network or by grassroots organisations.
One hand cannot clap. When people stand together, everything becomes easier.
Mutawakkil Haroun, farmer and member of the Good Relations Association
“As a network, we obtained agricultural tractors. At the level of our grassroots association, we managed to obtain two tractors and a loading truck through the Agricultural Bank. But we did not stop there. We established an agricultural company in the name of our association to provide modern farming services to those who want them.
“In the previous agricultural season, we won a tender from Mercy Corps covering 1,350 feddans. This enabled us to cover the agricultural costs of our association’s members through our own financing. This season, we are aiming to cultivate 2,000 feddans.”
The Good Relations Association—the name Haroun and his colleagues chose for their organisation—had accumulated substantial practical experience. They began thinking about how to transfer their practical and technical knowledge to others, and developed a program they called “Experience Exchange.”
The program organises lectures and seminars on sound and modern agricultural practices, both in other localities of Al-Gadarif State and beyond, in Kassala, Sinnar and Red Sea states. Haroun concluded, “One hand cannot clap. When people stand together, everything becomes easier.”
The cooperative movement in Sudan began during the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium, with agricultural credit associations established in the Tokar Delta Agricultural Scheme south of Port Sudan in the late 1920s. These associations borrowed from the British government to cultivate cotton.
Then, in 1937, the “Cooperative Company” was established—the first agricultural cooperative in Sudan in the commonly understood sense. The first cooperative in Al-Jazirah was established in 1944, followed by the first law regulating cooperative activity in Sudan in 1952. The Al-Gadarif State Cooperative Union was established in 1972.
Sudan’s 1999 Cooperative Act defines the cooperative movement as “a group of associations, unions and institutions established and managed by their members in accordance with cooperative principles and systems to achieve their economic and social objectives. It is a popular consultative movement that conducts its activities in integration and unity in accordance with the policies, approach and charters of the state.”
Professor Badr al-Din Abdelrahim, former Governor of the Central Bank of Sudan, expanded on the definition of agricultural cooperatives in an article previously published in Atar. He described them as socioeconomic organisations owned by farmers and managed by them, working to provide production inputs, facilitate access to agricultural finance, collectively market crops, and introduce modern agricultural technologies.
We hope to farm using our own financing, as we have done before, so we don’t get dragged through the bank’s bureaucracy and delayed over repayment.
Fatima Suleiman, farmer and member of the Qutuf Association
“Our association was established in 2019, but we could not register it until 2021, after running around after the registrar.”
So began Fatima Suleiman, a farmer and member of the Qutuf Association in the village of Wad Da’eef in Al-Gadarif State. She continued, “Our association consists of 25 members. Its management structure has three officers: the chairperson, secretary and treasurer. There are also 12 other associations in our village, and together they formed the Wad Da’eef Network.”
“Over the past five years, we have managed to obtain two agricultural tractors, a disc harrow, a combine harvester, a seeder and a pesticide sprayer through ZOA.”, she added.
Fatima explained that they applied for financing from the Agricultural Bank in 2023, but the war prevented them from obtaining it. The same thing happened the following year. They nevertheless managed to keep going through self-financing, leasing tractors and harvesters to cover their agricultural expenses.
Fatima added that they received two million Sudanese pounds in financing from the Agricultural Bank in 2025 and cultivated 100 feddans of sorghum. But delayed rains during the rainy season affected their yields, which were poor. This season, she said, they hope to farm using their own financing, as they have done before, “so we don’t get dragged through the bank’s bureaucracy and delayed over repayment,” as Fatima put it.
As for Umm al-Hussein, a farmer and member of Hasad Al-Sanabil (the Harvest of Grain Association) in Al-Sarraf village, the association she belongs to was established only recently, in 2023, although they had begun the registration process in 2020. Registration took another three years.
We formed the first association in Al-Sarraf, and then 11 more followed. Together, they formed Al-Sarraf Network.
Umm al-Hussein, farmer and member of the Hasad Al-Sanabil Association
“At that time, the association’s registrar was constantly moving between localities,” Umm al-Hussein said. “Since we live relatively close to the city, we would go to his office there almost every day. We were extremely keen to complete the registration procedures so that we could obtain financing from government bodies and organisations working in agriculture.”
Umm al-Hussein was one of the founders of the Hasad Al-Sanabil grassroots association. What prompted her to establish an association was hearing from female neighbours that several surrounding villages had begun forming agricultural cooperatives. She saw the benefits of these associations in their ability to cultivate large areas and secure the financing they needed.
“We formed the first association in Al-Sarraf, and then 11 more followed. Together, they formed Al-Sarraf Network. Its management structure consists of three officers at the network level, while each grassroots association has three officers: the chairperson, secretary and treasurer.
“We entrusted management of the network to the men because obtaining financing and completing registration procedures requires a great deal of movement and sometimes travel to distant places. Most of us women are homemakers or teachers in the village, so we cannot do that, in addition to being occupied with household responsibilities.”
Umm al-Hussein said they received financing from ZOA only once, in the form of fertiliser and seeds. They were unable to obtain agricultural machinery, unlike some other associations, and consequently were limited to cultivating only 20 feddans.
It is clear that the agricultural cooperative experience in Al-Gadarif faces different challenges and circumstances. Yet one thing remains constant: this heritage of collective action has endured for more than eighty years without losing its thread. And this cooperative economy opens a window onto what people can accomplish when they work together.
