88 COTTON GROWING IN THE SUDAN 



strated that the natives of the Gambia will not take 

 up cotton growing for export. Ground-nut cultiva- 

 tion, which is the chief industry of the Colony, is more 

 profitable than cotton growing, and gives a sufficient 

 return to supply all the needs of the people. More- 

 over, the country is only sparsely populated, and the 

 climatic conditions do not appear very favourable to 

 cotton growing on a large scale. 



ANGLO-EGYPTIAN SUDAN 



Cotton growing has made rapid progress in the 

 Sudan during recent years. The rainfall is insufficient 

 for the crop in the north of the country, and irrigation 

 is therefore practised. In the south, however, a 

 certain amount of cotton is grown which depends 

 entirely on the rainfall. The following are the 

 principal districts in which the crop is produced. 



About sixty miles south of Suakin in the Red Sea 

 Province,, the Baraka River forms a large delta, in 

 the centre of which is the village of Tokar. The rain- 

 fall in this region is inadequate for cotton growing, 

 and the only area available for cultivation is that 

 which is watered by the annual overflow of the Baraka 

 River. Unfortunately the flood varies greatly in 

 amount from year to year, and, moreover, a large 

 quantity of the water runs to waste as at present there 

 is no means of controlling it. A scheme has been 

 drawn up with a view to preventing this loss of water 

 but has not yet been put into operation. The industry 

 is somewhat hampered by the difficulty of transport, 

 but this would be solved by the provision of a railway 

 from Tokar to Suakin or Port Sudan. The cotton at 

 present grown at Tokar is almost entirely of the 

 Egyptian Mitafifi variety, but experiments which 

 have been continued for several years indicate that 

 long-stapled American cottons may eventually be 

 found more profitable. 



In the Khartoum district, and in the Nile Valley 

 north of Khartoum, are a number of areas cultivated 

 by pump irrigation. The largest of these areas is that 



