Country statement - Sudan : aspects concerning integrated approach to rural development in the democratic republic of Sudan

_.

_- ^~---~-_{- . --- -----}

~ ----....- - ~ ------^~--­

~---­

--~--

- - ' - ' -

Distr.

LIMITE~

E/CN

.14/s~~CD/LiF.l .f

2 ~eptember

1969

~IaLI&H OliLY

• a \' a- ,; ,$,.,^{J _~l. .}

.t.. ^t....

^{I cL ~ j}

^<:l

Integrated

EC01\fOr'iIC COIVllilI5~IO~~ FOR AFRICA

Afrioa t~Bional Conference oa the Approaoh to Rural Development Moshit Tanzania

13-24

October

1969

i

UNITED NATIONS

ECONOMIC AND

SOCIAL COUNCIL

,

f!

)1'~_"''''_'''---~----

__

'''''_--''-'''---'''''--''''~lIlI!III!'''''''''~'''~~

Aspects COucerning IuteBrated Approaoh to Rural Develo""lne:Llt in the -'Democratic Republic of the

Sudan J>!finition

I think, that the proper approach to the ~roblem of Rura~ Develop- ment in the various oow1tries ·of the contiueat of Africa is to look upon it as a question of rather social a~d ecoaomic emerge~ce of the peo~lee

ooncerned in these oountries.

+a

the first plaoe it should be 80 simply beoause the bulk of population is essentially rural. In the seoond plaoe it is 'so beoa.use the cozrtLierrt has expez-i.e.iced a lO:.1g history of foreign rule and ,in the third plaoe beca.use the rural communities almost every- where in the cO_1.tL1.eJ.'lt f~act not oaly the ,Problelll of poverty but qUite

often tilat of hunger aad starvation, not only a situation of disease

prevale~ce but .often tnat of epidemios and not only a state of ignoranoG but rather that-of oomplate dar~ees.

The .cont~ast is not so suarp nor so grievous that we often draw between tne developiag aa~ industrialized countries but ratuer drastio

is the co~trast which actually exists betweea our tOWil and the village.

.

^[.

~

..../

If the situation is so, then, our natioaal and i~ter-regiorial rural development efforts should ne ceeaard.Ly be concerned a great dea.lw-ith the eocac-econcctc emerbence of the rural couuaunaties in our various countries.

To such an exte~t the rural development should form the core of a~

national develoFment plan or 'program.me~ This is further emphasi~~dby

the fact tnat we feel a real need for not only to develop our oo~tries but also to score a homogeneous and bala~aed development minimizing the

oOJ.lt;r-as.t between the couzrtzysrde a...1d the town and ma(lifeeti~t if j!oss1ble such ideals as social justioe'~ equa.l opportWli ties a.ncl ge.aeral prosperity at,lare;e.

Jl69-2264

(

:"~

_:5-~

,~

r ^"

,1'-:

-)~

,.,.'~

,"

t ,

I' l ' •

,

; ~ Jr•• , '

~-

-:"

Before cuusideriag the aspects of -i~t~grated,approaohto rural

deve19-pment in the Demooratic Republic of the' &lidan ':it 'is worthy -to consider.- - .:.' first the unique nature of the Sudan. ^{I , ' .'} " , " ' . , .' , •.

The Sudan

. "

The Demooratic Republio of the &udaa is a' wide eXp84"1&8 of C_OUoltry

ooveri"lg an area of one million square miles. It stretohes south-north riBht from ..the periphery of the ~quatoria.l belt in ge...'1tle tral1si tiona to the edge of bahara. In a zonal stretch the country exta~ds from the Republic of Central Afrioa and Chad ia the west to the edge of Ethiopia Plateau and the Red Sea Hills Ln the east and north east. Tlle drairiage

s~steUl is defiiled by the ri ve-r lfile and its tributaries from south 'ilest a.nd~,

south east leaviAg the wast, nortn ~est a~d north east with no well defined _drai~age system. The _rai~fall tapers from illore _th~l 60 inohes in the e~uatorial belt to almost nil in tne edees of 5ahara in the North.

The size _of populatiotl is now abcuf 14 millio,n pez-eozis thus 8i ving - an average:'#~~~l~i:tJ'

'of

^14' P~~Q.+i~/squa~a- .milee' .The\~;actual f'opulati.-on .

distributio-iI 'is',:of cour-se quite-·~·diffeTeQ.t explaL:lcible''±a terms of the ,sharp con.trast among tne diffe re.lt regfoas. Thi s unique ^'j,lature of coat rae te of· , physlo~raphy, climate and population distribution _to~etner with etnnio

groups could ea.sily be seen to nave-

cs.ui

te 'importaJ.1t iJllpli·Qat~.9.~1.$.j,;n terms

ot

distributiJ~l of natural resourcef.l a.id regio::la1 _pote~ltial ca.pabilities.' Hereunder q. outli<le the outsta.no.1~lGaspects-of.this ...lature of contrasts

in the Demo'c'ratic Republic of the 'Sudan. ' :

, :E/CN.14/SWCD/nr.l

.. . PagEl '2 '

1

t -

r,·

~.^,

f '

l·- _1;

l:

I

1

t

1

! -

I.

j -

l ,

1 .

II

I

1

f-.

I

I

^t

1'· ,

1-t

I

I

... _r~:

(1) ..bherbe~lce .of di-ffare'_lt self-co~ita:iJ.'ledcomeum ties',,till.. _,_re...:. _cent~y detached'from each other •

. - (2)

.- _...^". ',,~,

i'iaturally' dicta'ted:.self..;..depe11de,loe o't:t'..lese communi tie."'·wi thin tne natural capabilities- of their different habitats • .-r'··

.... "

(3)' Consequeiltly the becomiL18- of ,the ~opulatiorl essential~

tradi tio.ial rural aerim.il turalist or·-·rural pasto'ralist (soma 10-80 per cent of the total population of the _SUdan)~

,. ,

~ .''

(4) .'EXiste.:lce· of ··-t~lis bulk"'of populatiqn .unpreductdva oro·f,'

.extremely low :produc'ti'v~^tj- ·living' within the ·margin.s, of' :-povert~.

, ~'. ,

,~ . '

.-;..

..

• • '~ l ,

'. Aokrlowledgi-ilB,:-the' fact _t~,lat ,the paet is essEl..lt.ially· eng:ravedin the future, a' hi,storical ^approach.-to the'-topio of.rural -.de'\i:elopme·nt

in

tb.e

Republio 01'·the'suaan·wQuld^pbe- ve~' ::us~ful a'~ due ·to ,'the -!lature-'o£~' act~.."'..

·expe+-fe...ace in" tilis,fi.eld. a.id the lessoLls wLlich could be ~wn ,for ..th~,;. '," '. ⁱ , ' . : " .

'beL'lei'xt'.Iof prospeoti'V$'" efforls matI-vat-i4'lg,ii'ite~ra ted~ rl.Lral' Q.$,veJ:0lhuent: .. "'"

in the.(oountry'., .. L1:=tni.e· .accord , ·the·:de;parti4~' ·P.oi~~...ror':,:tllE~-~~o~~~:~~lt- .. '

·co,.1tai:..led _84~ 'alm"O'st cl"sed··comm~itiea O'V8~ the-:Qutl)'1~1g.,:.p~~~".ot~t~,~.·}.,: . '.

, . ' " , , ' • . , . . : ' J . . ' : , ., '.

.»).- ' -, \

^~

'.

^{t - .~'.}

I? ': • ,.,. . ' ,

, '''':.,.:<: ^{'t"~:J ", ,}

.', ...":'.~".~'~,:,:,:.<.'-- ^{.... .,'} "-".~~.', :";'_., .... '

.'-~

- , '

.',I·'r"

•I . · · "

~ ~ j;..• _ ... , ) . r ,

,..,.,~

, . ' . I

f

t E/ar.14/bdO~/fIp.l

Page' 3 ..

Sudan was the enactment by tne Condominion Government of the so- called general policy direoted to the economic development of the Sudan. Th;i~ polic~y began with tue rise of the Gezira &cheme and the introduotion.. of cotton as a COzhm$rcial cash 'crop" which extended in Tot hi11s

':plaa

to the sou the rn pr'6Vi.nces and l'fuba Mts. in Southern K~~dot~ l'rovinoe.. ~i~ge"t~e_Ge'zira. _~oheme const I tu tee a very speoial oase, 'the' be~t axamp.Lea

f'or'

~a6t efforts'l.".1 the -fi.eld of rural

development are presented'by the Juba Mts. programme and the Zande

Bcnerae in South ~jest of Equatoria fro vince •

•

Nuba Mts. Programme

The" ~,ntrodu,otion of cotton w~thin the a.bove ulentioned prog'r~e

~~ the area.

ot

i.'luba -Hts. goes back to' the year 1924 but many years 'elapsed before it qould'be well established thereabouts. The policy

.underlyi~ the pr·ogra.ume ^was reported by"the Eri tish Govarament as turning swords irlto plough-shares sLlce the, l'luba're:llained till then militant'to the foreign rule. The economio _~otive of rai8i~g the living standard of the ~uba under this programme could be 'judg'ed from the

fact that in 1951/52 about 2 million pounds were ~aid to the cultivators for their cotton nazvest , However, it is i~1.teresting to.paint out

"that this could be possible only af':ter the abandonment by ,.the .Bri tish of its. sye tematLc p Lane for cotton husbandry •. The 'type ,of contra.st was. 'of oour-ee between the itltroduction oJ the ideal land husbandry me'thods of Ilest Europe and the traditiO~la.l indigenous methods of

·shi:rti.Llg ou.l tivat ion , .At the end "the ._tr~dit,ional, _~eth,ods were left -to prevail w-i th only direct Lif'Lusnce of distri butiag at.audaz-d seedst

'grading and ,buying the nar-ve st •

.The reshuffle in the history of cotton husbandry in the area came in early 1950 which wi tnessed a great rise in the ~iorld prioes.

The telaptatioa of high cotton returns wa.s so,stro~1g that it caused

a

^,real re'volutionaz:y' caange in the conceptLons of th~, .P6olJl~. It was,

then, a oommon contention among them that it was wort~-while to

'conoe~trate'oocotton growing and.obtain food from the m~r~et .through '., '. ~ the eotton pr-oceeda , This was a turn-over which reehuffl~d the

traditioi1al s~stem, ·~of self-sufficietlcy. As such, a1tnoueh the experiment suooeeded in introducii~ excnaage econo~y, the direct effects ~ere rather irratioual behaviour of tnese cultivators whioh in' turn entailed much more evils than the appanerrt benef'I ts

of

^.the

'programme. The sequence of eve.rta 'vlaa in sucn ..,a, ~(a~ that all the oultivators oame to concentrate solely o~ cotton B~owii1g abandoning altogether 'dura' theirsta~le food crop. &~on ~~ere was no dura in

the markets for sale or i f tnere was any, only at ve~ high prices.

Here below is ail a.ttempt to enumerate some important sooial and eoonomio effeots of this experieace:

(1) The,sudden in~ruah into the oulti~~tionof oo~ton

oarried rlitho it.all eltHn~11ts of uncertai~ltyand risks visualized in the effects of uatural factors.on tne

one hand and economio·factors on the other. The risks of mono-scuf ture &:Y^EteJD could of course by no means be under- estLnated not 'evan in ,:lore deve l oped regiO.L1S or countrie~.

E/CN.14/SWCD/I~F.l

Pa.ge 4

(2) As oonfronted with large sums of 'oash money at hand, the simple pea6a~ts with their simp~e' val~es, just stood helpless with regard to rational allooation of that cash money.' Undoubte~ly:their'appreoiation of a' hiBher level

of needs and ~ants, is a' prerequisite of rational behaviour. -1 (3) The most grievous B09ial and economdc 'effect was 'that

the extraVagance in expenditure at harvest time left the peasants empty-handed during' growing season and they were thus ~orced to turn to some help wbatsoeVer~ ,Unfortunately, tbere was nobody to extend such a,help apart from the

: :¥ad~rs. ^and merchan'ts who 'w{e;re~ eSB,~p.i'i,~l~~' foi-,t~e;-:':Dakers .and there th~y got a g01den

chanoe.

The tJ'peof help Which

they,segan to extend put the first. seeds of the isheil system' the predominant evil of the simple argrarian communities.

Zande Scheme

The objective of the zande scheme was as it came in its oharter of

se't

^{up 'the} general policy of the Boar-d (Equatoria acherae Board) aims at the sooia1 emergence 'of the peoples of ~quatoria,Proviuoe

and the purely 'commercial aspects of the w~dertakings oommitted to its charge shall be ~n ·conformity ~ith that end. Nevertheless a~

effort not inoonsistent with such aim shall be made to maintain the solvency of the' Board by the conduct of its affairs in accordance with sound busiil~ss principles including a reasonable return on the capital employed.'

It is questionable, then, to what extent this objective:was realized. The fact is that, as was the case with the Nuba, the objective of drawing the attention of people· thereabouts to the '.' -'significant role

of

money in an exchange economy was more or less

reali~ed but again in a rat-her distorted manner. HQwever the CODduct

of affairs' in accordance With sound business pri~ciples including ,a reasonable return was never realized for the follo~ing obvious

reasonSl

(1) The root cause is to be found in the type of organization set up to execute tna undertakings mainly.in being too busiuess minded and resorting to compulsion.

(2) The human element was almost disregarded or esiven very little oonsideration.

(3) . The plan-project itself was rather irratio~al in having taken Ii ttle consideration of:, cbe special condi tions

prevailing in that area, i.e. social and cultural etandings deeply rooted in, the past of the pepple. In fact ~he'

project was more or less a quick strife to jump within an eye's blink from barter to cash economy.

•

E/CJN~,14/swci>/INF

,,:

~a6e 5 .

(4) Raising the standards of living, as mentioned before,

is another version of raising the degree of needs and ,wants which is essentially a psyohological and cultural matter, depending only for actual realization upon the'pure

economi'c factor • Present Situation

These two cases could be seen to help a great deal our attempts for th~ valuation of the present situation While they 'also oredit the , plans for Bound prospective integral approach to the problem of rural

DeveJ,o:pmeb:t in the Sudan.

To begin With, the baokwardness of the rural parts of the Sudan oouldbe speoified in ~he follo~ing: ¹

(1) Ignoranoe, with

such

related aspeots ·of backward tra~ition8, habits and concept Lons among the rural oommuni ties,' remains

to oot).s'titut~'a most' drastic hindrance -i.n the way',of their developmel?-t.

(2) Poverty, especially among the rural agrarian oommunit1es' predominatee actually to' the' extent to' l'lhich their 1i ving' standards fall to the 'margin of bare SUDsiste~oe level.

Still,however, and grievouslyenough,they'are contented with such a:life, often because of the difficUlty in their part just to appreciate the signifi6ance of any change.

(Thie etateHlent highly applies to the pastoral oommuni ties).

(3) Disease in the third place still remains to oonstitute a continuous threat.

(4) For the Republic of the Sudan the problem of thirst stands at an equal footL:lg with the abovementioned three. It .is' qui te easy to sease thea()utenet:3s of thirst in such a

Vast country whioh raises some 8 million cattle, 11 million sheep,

8

million goats and

4

million, camels.: On the other 'hand, the effect of drought on the rain cultivated-areas

is"quite fatal ,for both cr-ops and pasture. '

(5) Up"on. all _t~ese is superimposed the effect o-r d.is tance in te~ns of tra~$port and communication faoilities.

Present gfforts for Rural Development_;

The first integrated approach to the development' of rural

oommuni ties an the Sudan is related to the Ten-Year, .tll!m for soclal and economic Development 1961/1970/ 71 since it forms the ':f.irst experience for the oount~ in the way of comprehensi va national eoon.omio pla.n~1ing.

~;, ^'

9

'...

.-)

..

^'

E/aN.14/S

"CD/ LiF. l

Page

6

In this plan,i't has be~'n :p~8tula.tedas one of top .objeotives the removal, 0'£ the barrie·rs whicb prevent population of the baokwa.rd

a.rea.s _fro~, partioipatil1g i'n, 'the',modern monetary sector. 'The importance of this objeotive haa been,touoped upon before but it is more or

~

less viaulaized in the faot tha.t the 'majority .of :the _peas~t

communities .are not economfca.Hy pr-oduct.Lva despi te 'the'

faot

^that

,the e~onomy of the oquntry is essentially agricultural. On the

othe~ side, th$ eco~pmic effect pf the hUge animal population is

~IIpost nil. Another pbjeGti va of 'the .pla~t to this etfect ,is ,the 'improvemen{ of educatron, 'heaith'and 'ot.her' s"oqial'serVice's'"to oreate

cultural and 'sooial environment capab:le

'of" 60piAi wi'i'li'

'the:':iiequirements

lpf a -new eooncmt,c life. , In fact the. sector of servioes in general was all.tted about

29

per ceat of the total plan investment.

However

this ~ea.r is' the ninth

year

of the plan implementation and already two years ago the need for a general revis~on of the ten-year plan' was felt. Actually by April 1969 .a 5-year pU'olic:sector investment programme·was formulated to replace the ten":'year 'plan. This in itself explains that the Ten Year .rlan achievements were not to the basic expectation. However, _~e could dare to _s~ecity that the

struoture of the plan ~tself h~rdly emb~died real integrated projections for the social emerge~ce of,the oountry yeople. This is assured by the faot that only towards the ead of ,the _~ear

1965

and in reply for the,'cries 'of thi~stJ pasture deterioration and fOJ:est destruotion ,th~t.a Rural! tiater and Development Corporat'ion was formed to lead a

successful campaign in the 'field of: fighting _th~rst.' But thirst as we poiqted out above is only 'one of several prQ~lems facing the

' . jI

oountryside.

Conolusion

~e thU:8:logically come to co ...ncIude with the ~efinition we made for my oonception of the problem of rUral development at least in

my

^oountri.

^4s

^,1 pointed out, the problem is

one or

emergedoe and

a~ $uch_it is~undetaoh&blycompaot. There is the urgent 'need to focus the inte.rest and atteation to the hum~~-b~ingas such in the .,remote oountryside, in the firf;.t plaoe and his natural, cul tural and

economic envir~nmeni in ~he second .place. As such the aeed for ohannelling more and more investment in this line 'beoomes prominent.

Howeyer,~we O~10t forget the dilemma of the so many important and

~rge~t neede,of~~rs in-the faoe of the l~mited resouroesat our disposal. ~ qui ok development and modernization of our eoon~

prerequisites propagatio~ of the disposable resourc~s through more and more produotiva investment.' 'This oould be 'maiatained only at the',s&cr,ific,e of unproducti~, i,nvestment whio!? p~ctioally could 'not be 8ao_rifieea.~. The _w~~- out is in a. proper harmonization in proper

Md

80und national _~lan

.or

p~ogrammes ^{• .}Still _howe~r, ,3.t'

this

ElcN

lI'14/SWCD/IN~'.1 Page

7

stage of development a certain degree of bias for the human-being is necessa~· because an educated, healthy and nourished population could form a sound ground and effective tool for further development of the economy.

Adam Ibrahim E1 Imam MINIS'l'RY OF .1:'LAliNING

DEMOCrtATIC R.Gf'UBLIC OF THE 5UDAN

28 July 1969/