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As part of the Gezira Livestock
Integration Study for the ground and air surveys were undertaken by Resource
Inventory and Management Limited in February and April 1986. The Survey Zone covered
56,000 square kilometers and included the Gezira Scheme and the Managil Extension, parts
of other schemes such as the Rahad and Blue Nile, as well as the arid rangelands as far
west as the White Nile. The aerial surveys were required to assess the livestock, human
and environmental resources present, whilst the ground surveys complemented aspects of the
aerial survey results, and collected socio-economic and animal production data.
The Zone has a high density of human
habitation, particularly within the Gezira Scheme, where the total population was
calculated to be some 2.1 million. The majority of habitation observed within the Scheme
were assigned to permanent residents while dwellings associated with the migrant
population were comparatively rare. Ethnically, the region is fairly homogeneous: the
great majority of its inhabitants are Arabs, while minorities such as the Tama, Fur and
Fellata now resident throughout the Study Area have migrated from Western Sudan. The Arabs
are either tenants, merchants or work as hired labourers, while the migrants are
principally labourers or share-croppers.
There are two major production
systems in the region: irrigated agriculture, operated on a tenancy basis by Government
parastatals, and widespread rainfed cultivation of sorghum. The principal crops grown in
the irrigated areas are cotton, wheat sorghum, groundnuts and sugar. However, the poor
state of the irrigation network means that water often does not reach the remoter blocks
of the Gezira, Managil and Rahad Schemes. As a result therefore, cotton is often only a
marginally profitable enterprise. A study of cotton accounts in the Managil showed that
less than half the tenants made a profit in 1984/85.
The low profitability of cash crops, and
the problems of paying labourers to work on land preparation and harvest, impel tenants to
seek external sources of income. In the east of the Scheme, along the Khartoum-Wad Medani
road, off-scheme employment is common. However, an alternative strategy is a livestock
enterprise. Livestock production can take advantage of the extensive range of crop
residues, weeds and agro-industrial by-products available in the Scheme. Producers in both
the irrigated and rainfed areas may have substantial livestock holdings, although
frequently only a part of their herds is kept around the homestead. The migratory nomadic
groups described in earlier literature have virtually ceased to come to the area as a
result of drought and the expansion of rainfed cultivation.
The principal livestock species are
cattle, sheep, goats, camels, donkeys, horses, chickens and pigeons. Cattle, sheep and
goats are kept principally for their milk or for market sales. Most animals are sold at
village markets for local consumption and meat supplies do not satisfy the demand, but are
supplemented by imported animals sold at the large urban markets. With the exception of
sheep, little stock is sold for fattening. The manufacture of secondary products, such as
ghee and white cheese, is well developed, but reduced supplies of fresh milk in the early
1980s has brought these industries into temporary eclipse. Camels are kept for milk
outside the schemes but in the irrigated area they are used principally to transport
goods. Horses and donkeys are used for personal transport and to draw carts; donkeys are
also bred for export to the south.
The livestock populations were
concentrated in and around the irrigated schemes in both February and April and contained
a comparatively high proportion of small ruminants and donkeys.
Livestock populations in the Gezira
Scheme1, 1987
| Species |
February |
April |
| Cattle |
217,600 |
291,300 |
| Small Ruminants |
773,200 |
1,013,900 |
| Camels |
821 |
7,600 |
| Equines2 |
|
235,500 |
1
From aerial survey estimates
2
Number of animals owned
These populations are considerably lower
than have been estimated by a range of previous surveys, a fact that can be ascribed to
the effects of the recent droughts. Livestock owners claimed to have lost between 40% and
60% of their animals through either forced sales or direct mortality. A consequence of
these losses has been that herd structures of the major livestock species are currently
'atypical', with an extremely low proportion of males. Indeed in the case of cattle, 71%
of herds examined had no adult males, so that the communal use of breeding males had
become widespread. A further result of the droughts is that the surviving stock are being
kept in nutritional conditions suitable for maintenance rather than for production.
The conventional picture of stock
movements is that after the cotton harvest animals belonging to nomads enter the Scheme in
large numbers. However, the influx recorded in April-May, some 105,000 animals (about 10%
of the total in the Scheme) consisted largely of animals belonging to Scheme residents or
else to settled agropastoralists living in the adjacent rangelands. Thus the traditionally
accepted role of migrant livestock within the Scheme appears to have no basis at present.
The broader pattern of movement is in fact a continual flux of stock between the irrigated
area and the rangelands, to exploit both the natural vegetation and the extensive residues
of the rainfed sorghum cultivation.
The majority of animals within the
Scheme were owned by its residents, who claimed to possess considerably more stock than
were actually recorded within the Scheme boundaries. This confirms the stockholders'
assertions that many of their animals were kept outside the Scheme for the greater part of
the year. Because of the wealth generated by the high arable production, much of the
population has surplus capital to invest. As a result, over 90% of the households within
the Scheme owned livestock, very often of more than one species, and animals belonging to
several individuals were commonly herded in a single unit. Small ruminants were
particularly favoured because of their relatively low price, their marketability, and
their produce. Ownership patterns within the Scheme varied with location and owner
occupation. In general, tenants owned more animals than did non-tenants, and households in
the Managil Extension possessed more stock than those elsewhere, partly to compensate for
that area's relatively low agricultural production.
Producers stated that the principal
constraints on livestock production were nutrition and animal health. The lack of feed,
both in terms of dry matter and protein, is demonstrated by the extensive grazing of
livestock outside the irrigated area and the importation of bundles of gassab, sorghum stems, into the Scheme. In
addition, the open market prices of agro-industrial by-products such as cottonseed cake,
groundnut cake and molasses have risen so much as to put them out of the reach of all but
the richest stockowners. This situation is likely to have contributed to the atypical herd
structures recorded and to a marked reduction in milk output. Veterinary services are
inadequate as a result of lack of transport for veterinarians and lack of drugs and other
equipment. Even campaigns against epidemic diseases such rinderpest and CBPP have fallen
into abeyance in recent years.
Improved breeding stock and
facilities for night-watering and night-grazing would probably also improve productivity.
However, these must inevitably form part of integrated package of interventions. The most
immediate method for expanding the nutritional output of the Scheme is the introduction of
fodder crops in the rotation cycle, something generally favoured by the producers
themselves. It should be borne in mind that the successful introduction of fodder would
have to be undertaken in conjunction with the GRP, the broader rehabilitation of the
Gezira, as the present low productivity of all types of agricultural enterprises is bound
up with the deterioration in the irrigation system.
Livestock production systems within
the Scheme are thus characterised by several features that are unique in an African
context: the rigid and largely effective control of cultivation and stock movements; the
relative wealth of the human population and the consequent widespread ownership of
animals; the predominance of small ruminants; the high densities of stock supported within
the area; and the homogeneity of the constraints acting to limit livestock production,
most particularly the ubiquitous shortage of feed. Proposed methods of integrating
livestock into the Scheme must take these factors into account, but must also accommodate
the fact that many of the present characteristics of animal husbandry in the area have
been substantially affected by the recent droughts, and so are atypical of the long term
situation. The degree to which livestock management will return to normal in future is
uncertain, which means that it is essential to monitor the situation closely in order to
confirm any predictions based on past or present conditions.
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