Leaves Falling Before Harvest - Office 95’s Fight for Water - Issue 38

Sep 5, 2026

Issue 38, Monday October 20, 2025, focuses on Sudan’s Wad Al-Haddad farmers in Office 95 facing an irrigation crisis before harvest. Farmers accuse the West Sennar Sugar Factory of unilaterally cutting water from the Major 2 canal, threatening crops and livelihoods. The dispute is tied to long-running disagreements over water rights and the division of irrigation and administrative fees under a 1976 arrangement.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryComic

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time3 min

AccessFree to download

Leaves falling before harvest: Office 95’s fight for water

How we got here

An old crisis renewed

Issue 38, Monday, October 20, 2025 Leaves falling before harvest: Office 95’s fight for water Osama Abdelhai Artwork by: Obada Gabir Amid Sudan’s farmers from grinding hardships,“Office 95” in Wad Al-Haddad, part of Al-Jazirah Scheme, find themselves facing a new crisis that could wipe out an entire season. The farmers accuse the West Sennar Sugar Factory of cutting off irrigation to their lands, exposing thousands of cultivated feddans to ruin at a critical stage just before harvest. The move revives long-running disputes between the factory and Al-Jazirah administration over water rights and fee collection. Farmers say they are paying the price for an “elephants’ fight” not of their making, made worse, they add, by a lax scheme administration that should be protecting them. As they appeal for swift intervention, they face the real prospect of losing their only livelihood and seeing their essential contribution to the nation’s food supply severed. How we got here Several Office 95 farmers told Atar that the West Sennar Sugar Factory, which borders their office, cut water from the primary Major 2 canal that irrigates their plots—a move they say will destroy wide areas of crops now entering their final growth stages. “Holding steady was hard enough, then the factory shut the water, damaging more than half of the cultivated land,” said farmer Hasbalrasoul Al-Tahir Al-Toum from one of the office’s villages. He added that the decision “was taken Major 2 lies within the land of the West Sennar Sugar Factory. It starts at the plant and runs north to the Wad Al-Haddad office in South Al-Jazirah locality, within the Wad Al-Haddad administrative unit, whose largest villages include Wad Al-Bukhari and Faris. Its water comes from the ‘Ireidibia canal, which begins at Mayirno in Sennar State and flows west, branching into channels that irrigate the factory’s lands, including Major 2. Journalist and political analyst Gandhi Ibrahim, who has followed the case, told Atar that Major 2 draws its water from‘Ireidibia under a 1976 agreement between the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources and the Sudanese Sugar Company (Ministry of Industry). He noted that farmers pay annual taxes, water fees, zakat, and other charges to the scheme administration. The Abu Al-Qawni pump station was once among the pumps feeding Major 2 before agreements were signed between the Al-Jazirah and West Sennar Sugar. However, the Sudanese Sugar Company later moved it to the Al-Junaid Sugar Factory, where it now operates. 􀂋 ]2 [ Issue 38, Monday, October 20, 2025 unilaterally without consulting the Al-Jazirah administration.” A leader of the farmers’ associations at Wad Al-Haddad told Atar that when they asked why the water was cut, factory “The factory threw out all previously signed contracts it knows perfectly well.” —A leader of Wad Al-Haddad Farmers’Association management demanded 30,000 Sudanese pounds per feddan as an annual irrigation fee.“By doing so, the factory threw out all previously signed contractsit knows perfectly well,” he said. “If the factory has legitimate claims, it should sort out its finances with Al-Jazirah administration without dragging the farmers into it.” He condemned the scheme’s silence over what he called “a looming threat that could cost us our crops.” An old crisis renewed Atar reviewed the dispute’s history. A farmer from Al-Awaiyda village said their lands used to be watered by “Major 1,”which was annexed to the Sennar Sugar Factory when it opened in 1976. The factory took over the office’s pumps and, in return, allocated “Major 2” to them with a daily capacity of 270,000 cubic meters. But according to the farmer, the factory began diverting much of that water, and their share dwindled almost to nothing, hurting output. A source from Wad Al-Haddad told Atar the cutoffs also stem from a dispute between the sugar factory and the scheme over who collects farmers’ fees. Under the 1976 deal

FAQs

What crisis are Office 95 farmers in Wad Al-Haddad facing before harvest?

Farmers say their irrigation water was cut in a way that could wipe out an entire season of crops just before harvest.

Which water source and infrastructure are central to the dispute?

The dispute centers on irrigation supplied through the Major 2 canal and its connections to the Ireidibia canal and related pump stations.

Why do farmers say the water was cut?

Farmers accuse the West Sennar Sugar Factory of shutting the water unilaterally and pushing fee or contract demands, reviving older disagreements over water rights and fee collection.

Sep 5, 2026

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