SUDAN

[Lowland1]

Between 2005 and 2010 a friend and I set up a farm management company to run two farms belonging to a Sudanese Businessman on the edge of Khartoum. We thought we could be the new Masstock but we could n't.

 

[Clive]

Interesting thread ! Bookmarked

Are you still doing it today ?

 

[Lowland1]

Interesting thread ! Bookmarked

Are you still doing it today ?

No for lots of reasons. Getting money out of the country was difficult as Sudan was on a UN blacklist which meant paying staff was difficult which in turn meant getting the right staff was difficult plus Sudan was a tough place to live for Westerners. Plus the Company we ran the farms for was part of a large corporation that had an Agricultural division already so we had a lot of not very good Sudanese managers foisted on us making it all a bit top heavy. Things came to a head when one of my white Zimbabwean managers tried to throttle a Sudanese Agronomist. I enjoyed large scale farming with someone else’s money and it paid for some of my kids education but it showed me it’s very hard to succeed in corporate farming.

 

[Lowland1]

A few more pictures. Some times it rains in the desert. My portakabin on the banks of the Nile in flood. Local tribesmen and their goats on unprepared land. Unloading a swather which ran out of diesel halfway down the ramp. Dragging land to open it up after the rain. Planting a palm tree. A Jacto self propelled sprayer I got from a failed wheat project on the Egyptian border. A scraper box we converted to lay stone in pivot wheel tracks. A flipped centre pivot caused by running into the Challenger and scraper box which was left in the way.

 

[jellybean]

Those photos remind me of the couple of years my wife and I spent running a dairy unit in Saudi Arabia back in the late 1970's. We had very similar problems and the pics of overturned centre pivots made me laugh. It was a tough time for us and we were lucky to have survived relatively intact both physically and mentally. This was on a unit that had been built by Masstock but never got as far as being operated by them. Many people who were good at their jobs just could not take the Saudi conditions and would crack up. We do wish we had more time to explore the county though but 270 cows with just the 2 of us plus one Indian labourer for most of the time means there was no spare time.
The money saved enabled us to buy our first farm so definitely worth going through the pain.

 

[Chae1]

Pah! Clive could do 270 milking cows with half a man!

 

[Lowland1]

Those photos remind me of the couple of years my wife and I spent running a dairy unit in Saudi Arabia back in the late 1970's. We had very similar problems and the pics of overturned centre pivots made me laugh. It was a tough time for us and we were lucky to have survived relatively intact both physically and mentally. This was on a unit that had been built by Masstock but never got as far as being operated by them. Many people who were good at their jobs just could not take the Saudi conditions and would crack up. We do wish we had more time to explore the county though but 270 cows with just the 2 of us plus one Indian labourer for most of the time means there was no spare time.
The money saved enabled us to buy our first farm so definitely worth going through the pain.

I actually enjoyed the Sudan but then I was only there for a week per month checking up on things. Several of the people we employed had real trouble with the climate and dealing with the people. My brother who was working for us on the farm closest to Khartoum rang up one day to tell me he could hear shooting and see smoke coming from nearby. I told him to grow up and not be so daft. Then I switched on Sky to see a gang of rebels with cannons on Landcruisers were shooting up the town they had passed by the farm on their way. Needless to say my brother didn’t stay much longer it was too much of a change from being down the fen.

 

[ImLost]

I actually enjoyed the Sudan but then I was only there for a week per month checking up on things. Several of the people we employed had real trouble with the climate and dealing with the people. My brother who was working for us on the farm closest to Khartoum rang up one day to tell me he could hear shooting and see smoke coming from nearby. I told him to grow up and not be so daft. Then I switched on Sky to see a gang of rebels with cannons on Landcruisers were shooting up the town they had passed by the farm on their way. Needless to say my brother didn’t stay much longer it was too much of a change from being down the fen.

Had to read that twice!!

 

[Lowland1]

Down the road from us was a failed farm set up with money from the UAE but very badly run. Sudan was full of these. There was lots of land a lot of water but not many good farmers

 

[Chae1]

Are tyres valuable over there!

Most machines seem to have some missing.

 

[Lowland1]

Are tyres valuable over there!

Most machines seem to have some missing.

Basically it’s all abandoned. Later I was doing some consultancy work and we came across a farm of several thousand acres with pivots set up in the desert never having been used and a yard full of brand new tractors buried in sand up the mudguards.

 

[Chae1]

Basically it’s all abandoned. Later I was doing some consultancy work and we came across a farm of several thousand acres with pivots set up in the desert never having been used and a yard full of brand new tractors buried in sand up the mudguards.

What were the main factors restricting success of farms out there? By success I mean profitability.

 

[Lowland1]

What were the main factors restricting success of farms out there? By success I mean profitability.

Basically it's a land grab so there's lots of Arab money coming in but very little good management. You can pick up thousands of acres of land if you have money and contacts but then you've got to farm it and that's when the problems start. There are lots of ex pats wanting the jobs but not many want to be on a farm in the middle of nowhere. It's not like Saudia Arabia it's really backward so the managers stay in Khartoum buying machinery and equipment and taking big kickbacks and sooner or later the money runs out. Plus you only really have a four month cropping season before it gets too hot unless you are growing lucerne for export so cropping options are limited.

 

[Dead Rabbits]

Interesting thread. I’ve always had an interest in farming somewhere in Africa. May do it someday, who knows.

 

[Lowland1]

Interesting thread. I’ve always had an interest in farming somewhere in Africa. May do it someday, who knows.

We could swap. I liked America a lot.

 

[Dead Rabbits]

I’ve only been to South Africa. You are in Kenya? Could you tell more about what you do there and what the main challenges are?

 

[Lowland1]

In Kenya we grow vegetables green beans ,peas, broccoli, cabbage, potatoes and baby corn. The challenge is being in the third world where nothing works. www.lowlandvegkenya.net has some photos

 

[Lowland1]

Part of our job was to provide the food for a smallish dairy unit of 200 cows on the edge of Khartoum this was the test bed for the 6000 cow unit to be put on the smaller of the two farms we ran. The major problem was the heat as it got up to 50 degrees C in summer which really hit production. We also had a couple of hectares of greenhouses producing cucumbers and tomatoes as well as other vegetables. In the middle is a picture of the local cows and their grazing. At the bottom is Osama Bin Ladens house when he used to live in Khartoum it was literally next door.

 

[uztrac]

For me it was interesting to see the Sudan today and my thanks to Lowland for posting the photographs.
I was resident in Sudan from 1976 until 1986 .I was successfully involved in agribusiness within the whole of Sudan.I travelled extensively on Sudan Airways and private aircraft within the country.I was there during the time of President Numeri who was k een on agricultural development eg. the 90,000 acre Kenana Sugar Estate.
I was a member of Khartoum Cricket Club & The Sudan Club both providing light relief at the end of the day.I had dealings with many indigenous and multinational companies & organizations.My time there was positive & exciting.I wish the new Government well now and in the future. The country has the potential to be the breadbasket of Africa,lets see what the future holds !!

 

[Lowland1]

For me it was interesting to see the Sudan today and my thanks to Lowland for posting the photographs.
I was resident in Sudan from 1976 until 1986 .I was successfully involved in agribusiness within the whole of Sudan.I travelled extensively on Sudan Airways and private aircraft within the country.I was there during the time of President Numeri who was k een on agricultural development eg. the 90,000 acre Kenana Sugar Estate.
I was a member of Khartoum Cricket Club & The Sudan Club both providing light relief at the end of the day.I had dealings with many indigenous and multinational companies & organizations.My time there was positive & exciting.I wish the new Government well now and in the future. The country has the potential to be the breadbasket of Africa,lets see what the future holds !!

That is very interesting I would probably find your photographs more interesting than mine. We were working for Osama Latif who was chairman of the DAL group who owned amongst other things Sudtrac who were the Caterpillar agents for Sudan and before sanctions the John Deere agents. They had made a lot of money maintaining and contracting on the Gezira irrigation scheme a million acre irrigation scheme set up in colonial times unfortunately the Government had stopped paying them so they were looking to diversify into direct agriculture. Another of their businesses was the Saygar flour mill the largest in Africa and one that milled 7 percent of the Australian wheat crop at one point.