Soil Suitability of Northern State of Sudan to Irrigated Agriculture

Abstract

A semi-detailed soil survey of 390,857 ha on both banks of the river Nile between the third and fourth cataracts, at an extent of approximately 400 km in the Northern State of Sudan, was carried out. The area lies within the desert climatic zone of Sudan. The objectives of the survey are to characterize soils and landscape and assess their suitability for irrigated agriculture and to provide guidance to agronomists and irrigation engineers for future land uses. Thirty-six soil map units were defined and grouped into five main units based on the contents of secondary calcium carbonate and soil texture. In this chapter, different soils, such as recent and sub-recent alluvial and high-terrace soils of Nile, desert plain soils, Nubian formation and soils of recent windblown sand and wadi deposits, are described. The soils are evaluated for irrigated agriculture suitability. The survey revealed recent and middle Nile alluvial soils (R) occupy 12%, Nile high-terrace soils (H) occupy 26%, desert plain soils (D) occupy 29%, Nubian formation soils (N) occupy 17%, and wadi deposits and windblown sand soils (S) occupy 16% of the survey area. Currently about one-third of the survey area is suitable for irrigated agriculture. A further 14% can be made suitable after the remedial work (mostly soil reclamation). Land that might be used in future for LUT 2 and LUT 3 amounts to a further 24% of the survey area, and the remainder 29% is unsuitable for irrigated agriculture.