Agriculture influences and shapes the world’s ecosystems, but not always in a positive way. More than 2.5 billion people are globally involved as stewards of land and water ecosystems that constitute the natural resource base for feeding the current and future world population.

This scoping report combines findings from a scoping visit to the case study location with a review of the literature that describes salient features of the political economy in Sudan.

This study examines the socioeconomic features that underpin the expansion of groundwater-dependent irrigation in Northern State, Sudan. Groundwater development in the region serves as an economic lifeline given the poor Nile-based irrigation infrastructure and future changes in Nile hydrology.

Our goal is to provide the scientific basis for development investments and policies that promote more productive, profitable agriculture, and healthier diets at no environmental cost. Low-income, smallholder farmers face significant challenges across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Includes land regulatory framework; foreign direct investment and large-scale land acquisition; mechanized farming agriculture; lack of transparency and corruption in land use and allocation; land and conflict.