Delay in Cotton Cultivation

Khartoum - The Cotton Council welcomed the decision issued during the meeting between the First Vice President, Minister of Agriculture and Central Bank of Sudan in which the encouraging price for Brakat cotton was determined at 600 SDG and 500 SDG for the price of Akala cotton. The head of the Cotton Council Osman Alsubaie said that the price is rewarding if the production cost and price are stable, pointing out that the production of last year was good. The highest production was from Halfa project where the production of fedan was five tons for quintal while the lowest productivity came from the Jazeera and Rahad projects where the production per fedan was between 2 to 2 and half quintar (100 pounds) for fedan.
Alsubaie said in an exclusive statement to "Sudan Vision" that the targeted land for cotton cultivation this season is 800/000 fedans distributed as follows: 600/000 fedans in Halfa, 35/000 fedans in Alrahad project, 65/000 fedans in Alsouki project and the rest to the projects of White Nile and Blue Nile.
He disclosed that the preparation for cotton cultivation for this season was late compared to the last year. This will negatively affect production in this season. He attributed this delay for non-contribution of the Sudan Cotton Company to the agricultural preparations for this season due to the problems that the company experienced.
He also said that Sudan Cotton Company played great role in growing cotton by rain fed and irrigation besides its contribution with cadres, fund and machinery as well as meeting all the financial commitments  to the farmers, indicating that the government projects alone will not push forward production this season as they do not have potentials and specific administrative forms.
The head of Cotton Council said that in spite of the great efforts exerted to bridge the gap made by Sudan Cotton Company by using the private sector to cultivate cotton this year but the response was weak. The focus will be on the rain fed areas in Gadaref and South Darfur states as cultivation by irrigation is costly compared to rain-fed, saying that the private sector is always willing to grow other crops rather than cotton because they are not costly in terms of cultivation, transporting and marketing, confirming that the private sector does not risk growing cotton in the irrigation project as they are expensive and the return is not guaranteed.