Economic Aspects and Agricultural Resources Use in Perennial Food Crops in Northern Sudan

Abstract

Northern Sudan is considered as one of the main suppliers of perennials in the country. The production of perennial crops in the region faces numerous shortcomings regarding crop productivity, high cost of agricultural inputs and inefficiency in agricultural resource use. This paper illustrates the economics and potent for investing in perennial food crops in the region. Beside secondary data, primary data were collected using structured questionnaires for fifty randomly selected respondents’ tenants. Partial budgets were constructed for perennial food crops. Linear Programming was used to model the optimal use of agricultural resources in perennial crops. The results showed that tenants would benefit and gain more profits from growing perennial crops among the predominant crop combination in the region. Therefore, they should be encouraged to invest in perennial food crops and to be guided on how to adopt the suitable crop combination that give more advantages, better returns and contribute significantly to farm sustainability in the region.