ABSTRACT
Introduction A traditional saying has it that 'when Allah made the Sudan, Allah laughed'. Certainly, the Sudan has had its share of political and economic misfortunes and Allah has been less than even-handed in respect of climatic variation. The Sudan is the largest country in Africa, extending 1,000 miles east to west, and 1,200 miles north to south (Figure 6.1). The north of the country is desert or desert-like, averaging less than 100 mm rainfall per annum, but this should not be taken to mean that people do not live there. There are active communities near to water, especially along the Nile. The far south is equatorial with high rainfall, up to 1,500 mm per year, and high humidity. The two basic forms of agriculture are subsistence crops and livestock; but the Sudan is also an exporter of food crops and livestock, together with its well-known cotton crops from the irrigated sectors south of Khartoum.
