347 



be contributed for 3,000,000 for irrigation schemes and railway 

 extension. 



This exceptional rate of -progress is largely due to the fact 

 that for the first time in its history the country is experiencing 

 conditions under which economic development is possible, and 

 that although the Dervishes decimated the population, there 

 was little invested capital or organized industry to suffer from 

 their destructive methods save a very crude and simple system 

 of agriculture. 



The progress which has been made may be divided shortly 

 into three stages : 



1. The period of pacification. 



2. Railway construction. 



3. Economic expansion. 



The last is distinguished mainly by the fact that means have 

 become available for commencing an irrigation scheme for 

 cotton growing in the Gezira. 



Under this project some 500,000 acres or 780 square miles 

 of land in the Gezira Plain lying between the White and Blue 

 Niles, which meet at Khartoum, will be gradually brought 

 under cultivation. In the future the area may be extended to 

 1,000,000 acres, and in time to come to some 3,000,000 acres. 



Cotton has been grown in the Sudan for centuries, and the 

 people are amenable to instruction in up-to-date methods of 

 cultivation. This has been shown in the Tokar district in Red 

 Sea Province, where excellent cotton has been grown for years 

 past, and also at Tayiba in the Gezira, where a demonstration 

 area, managed by the Sudan Plantations Syndicate on behalf 

 of the Government, has given remarkable yields of Egyptian 

 cotton grown by native tenant farmers. 



Millions of acres of cotton land are available for future 

 generations in other parts of the country. 



There is a sufficient supply of labour for the gradual exploita- 

 tion of the Gezira scheme. The population, also, is increasing 

 rapidly, and is being further supplemented by immigration. 



The semi-arab cultivator is proving much more efficient than 

 was originally expected. His previous indifferent reputation 

 was probably due partly to his lack of opportunity and the 

 unsuitable conditions to which agriculture was subject. Un- 

 certainty of results under an irregular rainfall tended to 

 produce a slipshod cultivator. 



Irrigation will help to remove some of these demoralizing 

 influences, and great importance attaches to scientific investi- 

 gations, such as will lay a firm foundation for successful 

 cultivation under the improved conditions. The spread of 

 vernacular education should have great influence in creating 

 a sympathy between the cultivator and the pioneers of the 

 more advanced principles. 



