Move from the Old Grooves: Gezira Continuity and Change after World War II

Abstract

On July 1, 1950, the Sudan Plantations Syndicate no longer managed the Gezira Scheme. The Sudanese “became owners of one of the most spectacular agricultural experiments in the Middle East and Africa, certainly the largest agricultural unit of its kind in the world, and one of the most profitable.” With the Sudan Gezira Board taking over scheme management, the “cotton-growing machine” promised to change into an “educative movement.” Cotton-growing would not disappear, but tenants would “be taught to become a mixed farmer,” growing other crops and holding cattle. As such, Gezira would only grow in its role as a model for “all agricultural development” in Sudan, with the SGB setting “an example to those working for social development elsewhere in the country.” The dual goals for the new Gezira were to “prove to be the heart of an enlightened Sudan” but at the same time to stay “its economic backbone.”¹