Agricultural Development Policies in the Nuba Mountains- Sudan

Abstract

The study aims at investigating the causes behind the economic difficulties facing small holder farmers and their households. Why life of small farmers faces economic difficulties, while their land is rich of agricultural potentials? Accuses are directed to government agricultural interventions policies to stand behind economic difficulties of the farmers in general and small farmers in particular. The main study hypothesis, is that agricultural policies are inadequate to empower small farmers . Also, farmers do not make the necessary farm investments because they don't have finance. Furthermore, resources of the area are miss-allocated by agricultural intervention policies. The methodology used to treat the problem is analytical and descriptive. Primary source using questionnaire as the main study tool for data collection, is the basic source of the study. However, secondary source is also used to collect some necessary data. In processing and analyzing the data , the study used( SPSS). Of the main findings; that public services are not provided sufficiently to small farmers. Majority of local farmers own small plots but they are efficient in production compared to large farmers. Capital is not available neither from local savings nor from formal credit institutions. The study calls for the adoption of empowerment approach as an alternative approach for effective development in Nuba Mountains and recommends: provision of basic services and infrastructure, development of small scale agro-industries in rural areas, pro-poor market development with dispersed formal credit branches at village levels, and improve good governance at national and local levels. The study, also, proposes some future studies, which complete the holistic approach to solve the problem of the study.