Jad El Radi, member of the Farmers Alliance Secretariat, said in a press conference in Khartoum today after the conclusion of the seventh Land Conference organised by the Alliance, that they decided to demand that the government assume responsibility for providing agricultural inputs. He highlighted that banks currently impose interest on loans to farmers that exceeds 40 per cent.

The farmers also demand the immediate suspension of the contractual employment systems, the reinstatement of all people dismissed for participation in protests. They call for the establishment of a competent technical committee to determine the ownership of the land of the El Gezira and El Managil Agricultural Scheme, provided that the Sudanese state alone is the owner and leaseholder of the land, not the United Capital Bank.

The farmers alliance further called for an improvement in the living conditions of seasonal labourers and small farmers (called Kanabi, ‘camp workers’ in Sudan) in the area.

He called for an investigation into the situation of agricultural companies and their role in the El Gezira and El Managil Scheme, a review of the ownerships and ways they are financed, and “a review of the corruption that accompanied their formation”, pointing out that these companies received SDG 330 billion in financial support from the government led by ousted President Omar Al Bashir.

El Radi called for the formation of a legal committee to review the property of farmers affiliated with these companies and their shares in financial institutions and banks.