São Paulo – Last Friday (3rd), the Sudanese minister of Industry, Mohammed Abdul Wahab Osman, claimed that the African country will be self-sufficient in commodity production within three years. According to information from the Qatar News Agency, at the end of a program developed to minimize Sudan’s dependency on staples imports, the country will no longer need to buy sugar from other countries and will profit from exports of vegetable oils.
In a press statement, Osman claimed that by the end of 2012, the country will produce 1 million tonnes of sugar, 50 million litres of ethanol, 1,200 tonnes of animal feed and 169,000 tonnes of vegetable oils.
As a result of the North/South separation, in July 2011, Sudan lost most of its oil revenues. In November, the Sudanese minister of Agriculture, Abdelhalim Almutafie, told ANBA that the strategy is to replace lost oil revenues with those to be generated through agriculture, food processing and exports. The Sudanese believe Sudan’s qualities in these areas must be tapped into.
Approximately 80% of Sudan’s farmable lands have not been explored yet. The country wishes to develop soy, wheat, sorghum, sunflower, and cotton crops, sheep farms, poultry farms, livestock, horticulture and aquaculture. The main challenges facing the country, however, are to develop technological partnerships and obtain funding for these projects. The Sudanese have sought partnerships in Brazil, and some Brazilian companies are already operating in the African nation.
In addition to attaining self-sufficiency in some commodities, Sudan should export more than 55,000 tonnes of gum arabic. Before the end of the year, new textile mills will start operating in the country, thus helping to lower textile and clothing imports.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
