Aweil Irrigation Development and Watershed Management Project

The project is located in the Bahl el Ghazal region in the northwestern part of South Sudan, is intended to develop an irrigation command are of 17,876 ha. Aweil Very small parts of the irrigation schemes developed around Aweil are still in use. It is advised to rehabilitate them before developing a new one. When rehabilitating the irrigation scheme it is advised to focus partially on staple crops; in this case mainly paddy and vegetables and partially, with an eye on the future, on cash crops such as sugar cane, which could diversify the economy. Within Aweil focal area, the yields are slightly lower than Sudanese average yields. However, the current harvested area can be largely expanded, which will produce tremendously more yield. Besides, there is a real potential to increase crop production, if rice is grown in two growing cycles, and to improve the water management conditions. The use of fertilizer is recommended to push yields even further. It is expected that the yields of rice can reach around 70% of the world’s highest, which would mean an increase of over 100%. Currently, sugar cane in not grown in the area, but it can be introduced later on as cash crop. The numbers show that there is a large potential to produce sugar cane, which will enhance poverty reduction and diversify the exports.