Agricultural technology transfer in the Sudan: critique & policy implications

There is a widespread concern among the donors countries and international funding organisations about the relevance, impact and dissemination of research results in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This growing concern led many funding authorities to reassess many of their research programs in SSA. Sudan is the largest country in Africa and a very good example of such concern as crop productivity is extremely low and does not exceed thirty percent of the level attained in research farms (Ahmed et al, 2000). This is the result of a combination of several factors including funding, government policies, weaknesses in the system, planning, management and evaluation of research programmes, exacerbated in most instances by gaps in the linkages between research, extension and the farmer. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to critically assess the different factors that influence the transfer of any new technology from the research institutions to the farmers through the transfer agencies as well as the impact of such factors on the national agricultural policy. The findings are therefore of new and significant relevance to the agricultural development strategy and policy reform in Sudan. This study aids a clearer understanding of the constraints facing internal technology transfer in Sudan and other developing countries which face similar socio-economic and development problems. Moreover, it demonstrates that economic analysis alone will not provide a satisfactory solution to the type of problems investigated as these issues and problems also have political and socio-cultural dimensions. Therefore, the proposed solutions simply seek to change the behaviours of both individuals and institutions. To do this it is necessary to recognise all the dimensions of the problem