Chairman of Agricultural Engineers: Sudan Owns 200 Million Feddans of Arable Lands

Khartoum - All attentions are now focused on agriculture as key to solve the country's economic problems after the exit of the South Sudan’s oil from the general budget. SUNA interviewed Chairman of the Union of the Agricultural Engineers, Eng. Al-Wasila Hassan Monofallee on the possibility of achieving the slogan of " Sudan is the world food basket " and the method to accomplish it in addition to focus on the facts of the real situations of agriculture in Sudan which has more than 200 million feddan of arable lands. 

Q: What are the views of the agricultural engineer and his scientific goals in fields of agriculture?
A: Agricultural Engineering is a main pillar to build agricultural renaissance in Sudan and it is the suitable time to motivate the role of the agricultural engineering regarding to the governmental view of interesting with agriculture particular in past periods agriculture played important and pioneer role in the country's economy, but it was traditional kinds of agriculture. Recently the conditions were changed as agriculture became a target issue in all world especially in Sudan due to its huge various agricultural and economic resources. For that we should adopt a scientific methods and equipments to promote our agriculture and compete with high standards of crops on the international levels. .

Q: How could the modern technology participate in the productive process??
A: There are many circles or operations integrate with each other to contribute in the productive process as the ministries of locality and federal levels. Besides agriculture as a science includes many branches even on the academic level and the economy is one circle of the agricultural production in Sudan.

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The Economy moves all these circles to utilize these sources in the country development. It is important to train the sector of agriculture engineers on modern technology. All sides began to move from the narrow circle of employment to the circle of private production, for that we need to provide the land to the agricultural engineer in addition to the necessary equipments so that he can implement the modern agriculture.

Q: What are the necessary inputs that the agricultural engineer needs?
A: The agriculture engineer needs the land, finance and methods of irrigation and in addition to his scientific experience he will be ready to implement modern successful kinds of agriculture. The specialist engineer is capable to tests the soil with modern equipments to identify its kind, the rate of salts in addition to measure the degree of temperature and fertility to select the suitable fertilizers according to scientific methods, which will give best results and high quality of production. The big challenge to the agriculture engineer is how to utilize finance to increase the output.

Q: What are the problems and obstacles facing the agriculture engineer in the union?
A: The first challenge is how to transfer from the circle of employment to the circle of production and second the problem of lands. Now all plans are ready in all states we need to provide a section of land to each engineer according to the available areas. Currently some engineers depend on themselves to implement their scientific agricultural information, but we exert efforts to accomplish a scientific type and to be a model to the other projects and there are preparations with ministry of agriculture to achieve these ideas.

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Q: Are there agriculture projects that have implemented the modern technology?
A: .There are some private efforts as in the project of Al- seleat where the engineers succeeded to implement all modern technology in planting and gained best results in producing some crops , that exported to the regions states and the Arab world countries.

Q: What are your opinions to promote agriculture in Sudan?
A: If the government provides all requirements of work, the lands and organized irrigation we will be able to implement all modern technology of agriculture.

Q: What about the general participation of the different sides that contributes to plan for the agriculture revolution?
A: I call upon all agriculture engineers in all fields to work to increase the agricultural production in both the private and public sectors. They should exert more efforts to be models for others. The challenge now is the agriculture engineer because he is the key to agricultural revolution.