Kordofan rainfed agriculture

Road construction will be implemented by the Government of Sudan"s (GOS"s) Roads and Bridges Public Corporation (RBPC) and the Regional Government, and storage and credit components by the Agricultural Bank of Sudan (ABS). Eventually, 455 kms of feeder roads will link farm areas to main arterial roads. Phase I will consist of 2 sections totaling 301.6 km: Kadugli to Talodi and Abu Gubeiha to Um Ruwaba. If Phase I goes well, Phase II - to complete the loop, running from Talodi to Kologi to Abu Gubeiha - will be authorized in an amendment. To develop an indigenous capacity to construct, and later, maintain roads, engineering will be performed by a U.S.-Sudanese joint venture and construction entirely by Sudanese firms. TA will be provided to Sudanese firms, and in view of their inexperience, a conservative construction schedule (40-50 km over a 30 month period) has been set. TA will also be provided to strengthen the Regional Government"s contracting capabilities. Several provisions to ensure maintenance are included in the project, among them that the GOS, USAID/S, RBPC, and the Regional Government work out a funded maintenance plan before the project ends. The storage and credit components will allow farmers to hold crops and capture profits from seasonal price fluctuation. Seven grain warehouses will be constructed, six with 3,000-MT capacity and one of 6,000-MT capacity; design and construction will be performed by Sudanese firms. ABS will own and operate 4 of the 3,000 MT warehouses. In a pilot effort, 3 warehouses will be offered to private merchants via a variety of lease/purchase options. Training will be provided to personnel at all the warehouses, and TA will be provided in warehouse design, construction, management, and transfer to private merchants. Farmers will be offered both production loans before planting and inventory loans at harvest (loans may equal 70% of crop harvest value). The loans, which will be channeled through farmer co-ops, will be coordinated with ABS grain warehouses, i.e., stored crops will constitute repayment of production loans while providing collateral on inventory loans. A PVO will provide TA to ABS.