Gezira Scheme
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The Gezira Scheme (Arabic: مخطط الجزيرة) is one of the largest irrigation projects in the world. It is centered on the Sudanese state of Al Jazirah, just southeast of the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers at the city of Khartoum. The economy of Sudan was historically based on agriculture prior to the beginning of oil exports in the late 1990s. The Gezira Scheme was begun by the British in 1925 and distributes water from the Blue Nile through canals and ditches to tenant farms lying between the Blue and White Nile rivers. Farmers cooperate with the Sudanese government and the Gezira Board. This network of canals and ditches is 2,700 miles (4,300 kilometers) long, and the irrigated area covers 8,800 km². The main crop grown in this region is cotton.
[edit] References
- Sudan: Options for the Sustainable Development of the Gezira Scheme (PDF), Government of Sudan and the World Bank, 17 October 2000
- FAO report on Sudan economy
- UN book "Lessons learnt"
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
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