The partnership between Valmont® Irrigation, through its Valley_® brand, and Zadna International is stimulating Sudan’s transformation to become an agriculture-based economy. This assists with food security, while efficient technology empowers growers, employs more local people and produces greater yields with fewer water and energy resources.

Valley is Helping to Sustainably Transform Sudan

Zadna is a joint venture between Sudanese public and private sectors to develop agricultural lands (supplying electricity, water, canals, center pivots) and selling them to farmers.

They needed a partner that could handle a huge irrigation project with difficult demands. How big? They required 1,450 center pivots to begin with. But that is not all. The project also required support to source financing for the project, installation of all the pivots, providing training to more than 600 technical staff in Sudan, ongoing service, and ready access to spare parts.

The project required the resources, experience and service only possible through Valley_® Irrigation, a Valmont® company.

“Valmont was the partner of choice for this project because they are the market leader in mechanized irrigation,” says Abdelmahmoud Agmy, CEO of Zadna. “This project had quick turnaround times, with dedicated service technicians staying on site, and Valmont was able to provide that.”

“The quality of Valmont pivots, their reliability, and their superior design made the choice even easier,” says Agmy. “Investors and Sudanese growers know the Valley brand. This project is highly regarded, and Valley offers greater credibility.”

Benefiting the People of Sudan

The Nile River flows more than 6,600 kilometers, and people rely on its waters for its entire length. In the past this has largely meant inefficient flood irrigation. Agmy says pivot irrigation will double yields while increasing water efficiency by up to 50%.

The Zadna project—and the involvement of Valley— is supporting Sudanese farmers in advancing agricultural productivity through irrigation. The end result is that Sudanese growers are able to be more efficient with water use, more exact with fertilizer application, and can grow bigger yields of higher quality than before.

Food Security

“This project is vital for Sudanese economic development,” says Agmy. “Developing sustainable agriculture on developed land that local farmers can begin using immediately will lead to greater work opportunities and increased food security, as well as improvement of the export balance in Sudan.” To this end, Zadna plans to expand the pivot-irrigated production of strategic crops such as wheat to 300,000 acres producing one million tons per year.

Employment Opportunities

Agmy estimates that at the ZADI 1 project, each 125-acre pivot will employ five to six people for farming, harvesting, maintenance or packing activities, including additional opportunities for women. “Adopting pivot technology has created lots of jobs for new graduates and young people in rural areas,” he says. “Furthermore, a substantial quantity of fodder is exported from Sudan, specifically to GCC countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates), which creates good income for the farmers and their staff working on the farms.”

Ground-Level Training

Zadna dedicated a training center to this project, with the goal of transferring knowledge to additional agriculture professionals from other African countries.

Valmont is giving back to the community and region by providing educational programs, in cooperation with University of Nebraska-Lincoln, to Sudanese engineers. These programs will build advanced skills on mechanized farming including irrigation, land preparation, harvesting best practices, agronomy and more. These are all ways Valmont strives to advance agricultural productivity – and sustainability – around the globe.

“We trusted Valmont to deliver and we have been very satisfied with every stage of the project from timely delivery to installation, training and service at the site,” says Agmy. “The end users are also happy. We would recommend Valmont to anyone.”

Contact your Valley Dealer today to learn more about how Valley solutions can transform your operation.