I 1 THE MANAGIL SOUTH-WESTERN EXTENSION: . 1 AN EXTENSION TO THE GEZIRA SCHEME INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LAND RECLAMATION AND IMPROVEMENT Reprint from: Tgdschryt van het Koninklijk Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig Genootschap; Vol. 82, 1965, 2 iI AN EXTENSION TO THE GEZIRA SCHEME AN EXAMPLE OF AN IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IN THE REPUBLIC OF THE SUDAN D. J. SHAW Senior Lecturer in Rural Economy, University of Khartoum (Republic of the Sudanj H. VEENMAN &ZO.NEN N.V. / WAGENINGEN /THE NETHERLANDS / 1965 International Institute for Land Reclamation and Improvement I I Institut International pour 1’Amélioration et la Mise en valeur des Terres Internationales Institut fur Landgewinning und Kulturtechnik Instituto International de Rescate y Mejoramiento técnico de Tierras P. O. BOX 45 / WAGENINGEN I THE NETHERLANDS 800,000 feddans 3, and more than doubles the area in the Gezira Scheme cultivated I under extra-long staple cotton. Its development has been based largely on the pattern uf the Gezira Main Area 4. There are, however, important differences between the two components of the Scheme. These are partly the result of experience gained in the original Scheme area, and partly the result of differing physical and human conditions. The Managil Extension is essentially part of a wider programme for developing 5 shortage (January 1 to July 15) when the flow of the Nile is at its lowest 7. The new agreement enabled the Sudan Government to proceed with its plans for an enlarge- ment of the Getira Scheme, and other irrigation projects. Early plans for a dam at Roseires, supported by investigations made in the 1950’s 8, could now be put into operation. The estimated net storage in the first phase of the new reservoir, which is to be completed in 1967, will be 2.7 milliard cubic metres 9. This will more than double the amount of water available for use during the annual period of shortage. It will also provide irrigation for the Managil Extension, and for an intensification of cropping in parts of the Gezira Scheme. An improvised plan of water distribution to the Exten- sion has been designed until the Roseires dam is completed. This paper is divided into three sections. Section I describes the Managil Extension, and compares it with some of the features of the Getira Main Area. Section I1 evaluates the costs and benefits of the Extension. Section I11 outlines some of the achievements of the Extension, and some of the problems that have emerged as a result of an enlarge- ment of the Gezira Scheme. It also deals with some of the major difficulties created by large-scale agricultural schemes in Africa against the background of attempts at rapid economic development. I. THEMANAGIL EXTENSION Capital and water shortages caused the Managil Extension to be developed in four stages, two of which were divided into two parts (Figure 2). Each stage is some 200,000 feddans in area. Stage 1 was put under cultivation in the 1958/9 season. The last section (Part 11, Stage 4) was ready for cultivation in July 1962. These stages have important physical and human contrasts that presented different problems when they were developed. Topography The Extension fans out from the south-central part of the Gezira Main Area in a west-southwest direction (Figure 2). Its eastern border skirts the Managil Ridge, a tract of high land which rises to a height of over 60 metres above the surrounding land. 7 The Nile Waters Agreement 1929 divided the year into two periods: (a) the ‘free period’ from mid-July to the end of December, and, (b) the ‘restricted period’ from January to mid-July. During the restricted period, Sudan can only draw upon water stored in its reservoirs. Under the 1929 Agreement, the Sudan was permitted to draw up to a maximum of 1.47 milliard m3 during the restricted period. During the remainder of the year, the Sudan was permitted to take water into the Gezira canals up to a maximum of 168 m3lsecond or 14 million m3 per day, to fill the Sennar reservoir (1929 million mq), flood areas under basin irrigation in so far as natural flood allows, and extract by pump according to a fixed cycle. At an average water-duty of 400 m3 to 450 m3 per feddan (measured at canal outlets) every 14 days, this was sufficient to irrigate some 450,000 feddans, and before the Managil Extension was developed, was adequate for the irrigated area. Under the 1959 Agreement, the regulated flow of the Nile, after the High Dam at Aswan is in full operation, will be shared out, 18.5 milliard 1x13 for the Sudan, and 55.5 milliard m3 for Egypt. This will provide water for the Managil Extension and expansion of the irrigated areas elsewhere to a total of some G million feddans. 8 Sir ALEXANDERGIBB and Partners, Roseires Dam Project. Sudan Government. Khartoum 1954; and, Estimation of Irrrgable Areas in the Sudan, 19S1-3. Sudan Government, Khartoum 1954. 9 The capacity of the dam when fully completed will be some 7.6 milliard m3. The Egyptian High Dam by comparison will hold 130 milliard m3 of water, vide: RAGAEI EL MALLAKH,Some Economic Aspects of the Aswan High Dam Project in Egypt. (Land Economics, February 1959, p. 15). 7 This ridge sets the limits of irrigable land to the east of the Extension. Its western, southern and northern boundary was demarcated where good irrigable lands give way to intractable saline-alkaline clays associated with the White Nile lacustrine beds. As in the Getira Main Area, the general westward and northward slope of the land made the Extension easily adaptable to gravity irrigation. The general level of the land in the Managil region has been disturbed, however, not only by the Managil Ridge, but also by two groups of granite hills (jebels) which occur in Part I1 of Stage 3 10. Certain areas within the boundaries of the Extension have been omitted from cropped lands as a result, as they are above the command of gravity irrigation. Despite extensive land levelling (Table I), there are areas, particularly around the flanks of the jebels, that are lowlying. In years of heavy rains, waterlogging occurs in these places which considerably depresses crop yields. Table I. Lund Developmeut area affected bush clearance stages total area by continuous cost land dura heavy medium light Per levelling cultivation feddan (a) ( feddans) (%) (%I (%I (96) (Es) (cubic metres) 1 197,468 30.28 5.37 15.50 45.83 0.909 166,525 2 221,277 27.12 14.24 20.90 54.23 1008 56,009 31 138,671 37.12 35.70 21.00 1.10 1.613 217,830 3 I1 86,264 10.55 59.51 13.33 1.52 1.796 160,780 41 . 60,193 72.02 0.83 0.00 21 93 0.796 100,500 4 I1 75,477 10.30 0.00 0.00 31.00 0.750 185,000 total extension 779,350 29.70 18.42 15.10 32.06 1.159 886,644 (a) Includes the removal of former village sites, rain storage devices (hafirs), and field ridges (terrm) constructed to channel rain-water for former dura cultivation. Soils In certain areas of the Extension, notably in Stage 1 and Part I1 Stage 4, the soils are generally similar to those of the Gezira Main Area. They are mainly fertile clays which give good yields if properly managed:The overall average yield of the Extension has been lowered, however, by other areas where soil fertility is lower, and by freak rains and rat attacks in the 1962163 Season (Table 11). Table 11. Average cotton yields (Kutztars per feddan) area seasons 1958159 1959160 1960161 1961162 1962163 Managil Extension 4.705 3.515 2.800 5.377 3.370 Getira Main 4.710 4.176 2.733 6 638 4.300 There are important differences in soil fertility within the Extension. These differen- ces have been created to some extent, by the cultural practices adopted in the area before it was developed under gravity irrigation. Before it was drawn into the Scheme, 10 These hills are, however, fortuitously placed to provide stone for construction wodk. If they did not exist, building stone would have been transported over considerable distances, increasing construction costs. 8 Fig. 2. the Managil region was an important grain producing area. Grain was exported to the capital, and other places in the northern Sudan. Cultivators, through the skillful use of rain collecting and distributing devices, and .by selecting certain types of dura (Sorghum vulguve) with short maturing periods, were able to grow their grains on the rains for a number of years in certain locations. Absence of soil conservation practices led to the creation of areas of low fertility (Table I). A soils map'compiled in 1961/62, and based on sodium values, and percentages of clay and salt, shows that there are significant changes in soil fertility over short distances 11. Climate and Vegetation The latitudinal spread of the Managil Extension, as in the Gezira Main Area, has resulted in significant climatic and vegetational differences within its boundaries. In the North, rainfall per annum averages 8-12 inches (203-305 mm), with an 8 months period of continuous drought, and a rainfall variability of over 25 "/c. In the South, rainfall is noticeably heavier, ranging between 12-20 inches (305-508 mm) per annum, with a continuous drought period of 4 to 6 months, and a rainfall variability of less than 20 %. Rainfall is, therefore, sufficient in quantity, and lasts for ä long enough period, to permit the growth of many grasses and herbs, and maintain a rather open woodland type of country in the southern parts of the Extension, particularly in Part 11, Stage 3.