The Northern Region of the Sudan is poorly endowed with natural resources. Agriculture is the main economic activity. Because of the aridity of the region and the high cost of irrigation, agricultural production is confined to the vicinity of the Nile. Three forms of agricultural production co-exist in the Northern Region. The Shendi area was selected for field survey. These are state, cooperative and private forms of organization. Several philosophical approaches were considered and structuration approach is adopted. It allows for the explanatory role for structures where these <i>dominate</i> over the <i>participating</i> individuals and/or groups. Within structurational context the study argues that these forms of organization have different impacts on land use and development variables. The variables considered are cropping patterns, land use intensity, land productivity, poverty eradication and income distribution. The three forms are different with regard to their ideological stances, group composition, power relations, motives and objectives. These differences are hypothesised as resulting in different applications of management functions and material agricultural inputs. Production relations, land tenure systems, commercial cropping, rotation system, application of fertilizer and labour inputs are different under the three forms of organization. Differences in their operations were found to be a function of differences in structural composition. Private form of organization ranks first with regard to the application of agricultural inputs followed by state and cooperative forms respectively. Differences in operations resulted in differences with regard to their spatial and development impacts. Cropping patterns are different. Land use intensity is higher under private form of organization followed by state and cooperative forms respectively. There is high degree of land under-utilization under all the three forms. Land productivity, capacity to eradicate poverty and patterns of income distribution are remarkably different between them. With all these variables private form of organization ranks higher than the other two. State scheme ranks second and cooperative is a poor third. The three forms of organization have different structural compositions, different operations and different impacts of space and development.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:639130 |
| Date | January 1988 |
| Creators | Sulieman, E.-S. E.-F. A. |
| Publisher | Swansea University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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