Improvising Planned Development on the Gezira Plain, Sudan, 1900–1980

299 Pages·2016·7.483 MB·English

by  Maurits W. Ertsen (auth.)

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Improvising Planned Development on the Gezira Plain, Sudan, 1900–1980
By Maurits W. Ertsen
Improvising Planned Development
on the Gezira Plain, Sudan,
1900–1980
Maurits W. Ertsen
IMPROVISING PLANNED DEVELOPMENT ON THE GEZIRA PLAIN, SUDAN, 1900–1980
Copyright © Maurits W. Ertsen 2016
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2016 978-1-137-56817-5
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
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First published 2016 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-56330-2 ISBN 978-1-137-56818-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-56818-2
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ertsen, Maurits W., 1968–
Improvising planned development on the Gezira Plain, Sudan,
1900–1980 / Maurits W. Ertsen.
pages cm.—(Palgrave studies in the history of science and
technology)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-349-56330-2 (alk. paper)
1. Irrigation—Sudan—Gezira (Region)—History. 2. Agriculture—
Economic aspects—Sudan—Gezira (Region)—History. 3. Agriculture and
state—Sudan—Gezira (Region)—History. 4. Regional planning—Sudan—
Gezira (Region)—History. 5. Sudan—Economic policy. I. Title.
HD1741.S852G4947 2015
333.76(cid:2)15096264—dc23 2015018298
A catalogue record for the book is available from the British Library.
To Tony

Contents
List of Figures i x
List of Tables xi
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction
Settling Certain Details Coming to a Deal 1
Chapter 1
Cotton from a Wilderness: The Early Negotiations 1 5
Chapter 2
A Task of Some Magnitude: Gezira Management Logic 3 5
Chapter 3
No Man Can Serve Two Masters: Designing Gezira Irrigation 63
Chapter 4
Making the Best of a Rotten Deal: Tenant Realities and Resistance 8 7
Chapter 5
Another’s Week’s Toil: British SPS Inspectors and Their Idea(l)s 1 09
Chapter 6
Move from the Old Grooves: Gezira Continuity and Change
after World War II 131
Chapter 7
The Everlasting Rectangles: Gezira and International
Development 151
Epilogue
A Typical Battlefield: Understanding Negotiated Development 173
viii CONTENTS
Archival Sources 1 93
Notes 1 95
References 267
Index 2 83
Figures
I.1 Map of the Gezira system (roughly as it stood around 1950) 3
I.2 Cotton harvest in Gezira 4
2.1 Irrigated acreages in Gezira 4 2
2.2 The four-year rotation in Gezira 4 6
2.3 Crop areas in Gezira over time 4 8
2.4 Cotton harvests in Gezira over time 4 9
2.5 Two different irrigation rhythms 5 2
2.6 Sowing cotton in the Gezira 5 4
3.1 Weir on a minor irrigation canal in the Gezira 7 0
3.2 Syndicate diesel engine 7 5
4.1 Cotton picking 1 06
5.1 Sudan Plantations Syndicate cotton inspector standing
next to a motorcar 1 10
5.2 Number of staff employed (vertical) by
the SPS (after 1950 SGB) per year (horizontal) 1 12
5.3 Five-year interval distribution of total years of
employment of SPS staff 1 13
5.4 Sudan Plantations Syndicate cotton inspector’s house,
probably B-type 1 15
5.5 Gezira polo 1 21
5.6 SPS poster with the career of bad tenant
Ahmed Abdulla Sakran 1 24