The Gezira Scheme ( ar, مشروع الجزيرة) is one of the largest
irrigation
Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...
projects in the world. It is centered on the
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
ese
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of
Al Jazirah, just southeast of the confluence of the
Blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
and
White Nile
The White Nile ( ar, النيل الأبيض ') is a river in Africa, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile, the other being the Blue Nile. The name comes from the clay sediment carried in the water that changes the water to a pale color ...
rivers at the city of
Khartoum
Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...
. The Gezira Scheme was begun by the
British while the area was governed as part of
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan ( ar, السودان الإنجليزي المصري ') was a condominium of the United Kingdom and Egypt in the Sudans region of northern Africa between 1899 and 1956, corresponding mostly to the territory of present-day ...
. Water from the Blue Nile is distributed through canals and ditches to tenant farms lying between the Blue and White Nile rivers.
The Gezira (which means "island") is particularly suited to irrigation because the soil slopes away from the Blue Nile and water therefore naturally runs through the irrigation canals by gravity.
[Hyslop, J. (1952) : "The Sudan Story", Chapter "The Bounteous River", The Naldrett Press, London, UK] The soil has a high
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay pa ...
content which keeps down losses from
seepage.
Reginald Wingate, the
British governor-general
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
of Sudan, originally envisaged the farmers growing wheat but this was abandoned as the colonial authorities thought that a better cash crop was needed. When it was discovered that Egyptian-type long staple
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...
could be grown, this was welcomed as a better choice as it would also provide a raw material for the British textile industry.
Cotton was first grown in the area in 1904. After many experiments with irrigation, was put under cultivation in 1914.
[
After the lowest Nile flood for 200 years, the ]Sennar Dam
The Sennar Dam is an irrigation dam on the Blue Nile near the town of Sennar in the Al Jazirah region of Sudan. The dam is long and has a maximum height of . It was designed by the Scottish engineer Sir Murdoch MacDonald, begun in 1914 and co ...
was constructed on the Blue Nile to provide a reservoir of water. This dam was completed in 1925 and is about long. The Gezira Scheme was initially financed by the Sudan Plantations Syndicate in London and later the British government guaranteed capital to develop it. The Sudan Gezira Board took over from private enterprise in 1950[ and was chaired by Arthur Gaitskell.]
See also
*'' They Planted a Stone'', a 1953 documentary film about the creation of the Gezira Scheme
References
External links
Sudan: Options for the Sustainable Development of the Gezira Scheme (PDF)
Government of Sudan and the World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...
, 17 October 2000
FAO report on Sudan economy
{{coord, 14, 30, N, 33, 10, E, display=title
Al Jazirah (state)
Geography of Sudan
Irrigation in Sudan
Irrigation projects
Land management