SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The theme of this study is employment problems in the Sudan particularly its agricultural sector. The subject of employment in less developed countries is of considerable concern where it raises manifold issues. Some of these are outlined in the first chapter. Then an attempt is made (chapter two) to identify the dimensions of the Sudan employment problems and their possible causes. Data from different sources suggest a low rate of overall unemployment. In contrast to this seemingly favourable situation, pervasive underemployment in traditional agriculture is disclosed. In dealing with such a problem from the national point of view the tricky issue of combining growth with equity poses itself. The treatment of employment in the Sudan development planning exercises was found to be seriously inadequate (chapter three). Employment was there viewed more or less as a by-product of economic development, The implicit strategy of growth maximisation seems to have accentuated dualism between modern and traditional economies within agriculture. With a population about 15 million in 1973 and an average density of six persons per square kilometre, the Sudan may have seemed to be free from any threat of overpopulation, Demographic data are considered in chapter four in order to investigate various population problems related to growth, composition and distribution. The following two chapters lead on to an examination of the labour force, three-quarters of which has been engaged in agriculture. An apparent abundance of labour supply in the country as a whole is difficult to reconcile with the acute and costly seasonal manpower shortages experienced in modern agriculture. Migration and seasonal labour mobility may thus be crucial to combining growth with equity. Possibly for the first time as far as the Sudan is concerned, labour migration is here empirically studied from the point of view of the sending areas. Besides the demographic structure of sample rural areas, observations related to earnings and productivity in traditional sector are considered. Finally the threads of the preceding themes are brought together, summarising the findings and putting them into perspective. A few suggestions for further research are indicated.