Estimation of Manual Labor Required to Carry Out Agricultural Operations for Some Crops in the Gezira Scheme, Sudan

Gezira scheme is the largest irrigated scheme in Sudan. This study aimed to determine the number of labor (m.h/fed) for manual operations of the crops and to determining the operations that require introduction of implements to realize zero hand-labor. Data was collected from the farmers through direct interviews during 2021/2022 season. The collected data were entered into excel-sheets, and then man-hour per hectare was calculated for various manual operations using the standard methods The manual operations included preparing Gadual and Tagnent, sowing, thinning and re-sowing, adding fertilizer, weeding and harvesting. The study included seven crops namely; cotton, wheat, peanut, sorghum, pigeon pea, chickpea and onion. The results showed that seeding, weeding and harvesting operations need, on the average, 64, 88 and 308 man.h/ha, respectively. While preparing Gadual and Tagnent, re-sowing and thinning and adding fertilizer were the least labor-intensive operations, as they recorded an average of 9, 10 and 6 m.h/ha, respectively. In addition, the results showed that peanut is labor-intensive crop. It requires 951 m.h/ha followed by cotton (782 m.h/ha), onion (688 m.h/ha), and the wheat crop is the least of all (20 m.h/ha). Sorghum, pigeon pea and chickpea crops, the total number of labors was 371, 362 and 220 m.h/ha, respectively. The study concluded that introduction of seeding, weeding and harvesting implements are necessary to reduce the required labors.