Wad Madani. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Representative in Sudan Dr Babagana Ahmadu, attended an Inception Workshop in Wad Madani organized by the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources (MOIWR), under the title “ Enhancing livelihood of Gezeira Farming Families through Transformative Partnerships between FAO, MOIWR and Local Institutions’’. The workshop was seen as a good opportunity for widening the scope of partnership between FAO with MOIWR.

The workshop included three sessions; Session 1: Introduction & Some Achievements- Session 2: Nurturing young talent: Project achievement so far- Session 3: Field visit to Gezeira Scheme. The day closed by networking at HRC.

Dr Ahmadu, in his remarks expressed the full commitment of FAO in support of  the initiative, and in offering the services of the national and international experts to support the MOIWR. He added that Gezeira scheme has a very rich history but suffered from underperformance in the  last few decades.  He reiterated that FAO is ready to support in revitalizing the scheme especially through technical assistance, called on other UN agencies to join FAO in reviving the  Gezira scheme. Moreover, he assured the MOIWR that FAO will support the ministry in the pilot projects in Gezeira Irrigation scheme, improving medium size pump irrigation, water harvesting infrastructure and innovative technologies for improved livelihoods.

In his opening remarks Minister of Irrigation and Natural Resources Prof Yassir Abbass stressed the need to improve production,  productivity and efficiency in the utilization of natural resources especially water. He called for demand driven and policy oriented research to address some of the critical challenges facing the water sector in Sudan. The Minister commended the FAO for the efforts in support of his Ministry and called for further strengthening of the partnership between the two entities. The Ministry “will no doubt benefit from the vast experiences of FAO in the field of sustainable water management” said the Prof Abbass. Prof Abbass concluded his speech by thanking FAO for this opportunity, that will give Gezeira Scheme the chance to revitalize and become the main economic driver for Sudan as in the past.

A sideline meeting took place between the Minister of MOIWR Prof Yassir and FAOR Dr Babagana. During the meeting, the minister briefed FAOR that the World Bank is ready to fund by USD 50 million that covers 100,000 Hectares of land , and that the ministry needs technical support and capacity building. The minister suggested for  the efforts in Gezeira Scheme to be conducted  phases or blocks because the scheme is very big. The minister offered to provide an office space to FAO in the premises of the HRC, which will be the first time for FAO, to have an office in Madani.