WHITE NILE STATE'S GOOD OPPORTUNITIES IN AGRICULTURE

BY R.RAVICHANDRAN

KUALA LUMPUR, May 22 (Bernama) -- Sudan's White Nile state is keen to attract Malaysian investors to participate in the agriculture and agro-based sectors which have huge potential, while making it bigger and more commercially viable.

The state's governor Dr Mohamed Noorallah Eltigani said the potential for
investment were in in the areas of meat production, fishing, livestock,
sugarcane, fruits processing and rice farming.

The White Nile state has about nine million feddan (one feddan is 0.42
hectare) of arable land with enough water resources, mainly from the White Nile
River -- it runs through the state from south to north over 400km -- and
groundwater.

Mohamed Noorallah spoke to Bernama while on a recent trip here to promote
the White Nile state.

He said the state was the foremost producer of sugarcane in Sudan, with
three big sugar factories operating and another under construction.The Kenana
Sugar Company in the state is the world's largest producer of white sugar.

He said the state needs at least another five more sugar factories to tap
and maximise the industry's potential while catering to local and export
demands.

Sugar from the White Nile state is now being exported to African and Gulf
countries.

Mohamed Noorallah said that investment opportunities were also abundant in
the livestock, meat production and processing industries and the state is
blessed with 1.5 million hectares of natural pastures for grazing.

The statistics speak for itself.The state is characterised by its dense
population of animal resources of goat, sheep, camel and cows, totalling more
than 10 million heads, which represents 14 per cent of the national animal
population in Sudan.

He said investment could be in the form of businesses involving the breeding
and fattening of cattle for meat production for local and export markets and
establishing a modern slaughter house, a molasses ( an important cheap source of
animal feed) feed factory, cooling and freezing units, breeding and production
farms and the leather industry.

Mohamed Noorallah explained that currently meat was exported to the Middle
East and Gulf countries in smaller volume although demand was very high due to
the high quality.

Investment in this area, he said, would give investors good, profitable
returns.

"Despite the high commercial value,there is at present no slaughter house
for meat production.Investors can utilise low cost resources to maximise
profits by investing in local consumption and for export," he highlighted.

Cultivation of wheat, sesame, cotton, vegetables, fruits, sunflower, millet,
sorghum, and groundnuts are also an important feature of the White Nile state's
agriculture sector, which according to the governor, could be developed
commercially.

In the area of fruit processing, he said the White Nile is rich with lemon,
mangoes, grapes, oranges, bananas and tomatoes, which could be add value by
being processed into juices, both for the local market and export.

Fishing is another promising area, with 54 species of fish in the White Nile
River.Currently, fishing was being conducted in more of a traditional way,
involving some 4,500 fishermen.

Mohamed Noorallah said investments available in the field of fish production
and aquaculture, included cooling and freezing facilities, trucks and containers
services and fishing equipment.

"The slow current of the White Nile River and the presence of islands,
create a good environment for fish breeding and growth," he said, adding that,
the annual available potential was 15,000 tonnes but only about 7,000 tonnes
were being caught.

Rice cultivation and production was another area Malaysian investors can
look into, as the state government plans to tranform it into a bigger scale.Nine
varities of rice are being planted in the state which has good irrigation.

"We plan to cultivate rice on 400,000 feddan in future (upland) and 100,000
feddan (on lowland).We aso need investment to manufacture post-harvest
machines," he said.

Rice cultivation started on a traditional basis in the White Nile state more
than 60 years ago.

Mohamed Noorallah explained that cultivated areas now range between 6,300 to
8,400 hectares annually with production of 3.6 to 4.5 metric tonnes per
hectare.

Malaysia is one of Sudan's major investors after China.Petronas, the
national oil corporation, is the largest Malaysian company and a key player in
Sudan's oil and gas industry with more than 40 other local companies also
operating there.

The White Nile state with an area of 39,600 sq km and a 2.1 million
population, is located strategically in the middle of Sudan and is known as the
bridge between the southern and northern part of the vast country, which has 25
states.

--BERNAMA