In his office in Khartoum, today Monday 18th January 2010, H.E. Mr. Ali Bin
Saeed Al-Sharhan, President of the Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment
and Development (AAAID), signed a loan agreement according to which AAAID grants
a $ 12 million loan to the Arab Sudanese Blue Nile Agricultural Company (ASBNACO)
to finance the operational needs of the company for the agricultural season 2010
- 2011. Eng. Omer Marzoug, the general manager of the company, signed for the
company. .
This comes in the framework of the technical and financial support provided by
AAAID to its affiliated companies in Sudan, the host country for AAAID.
Following the signing of the agreement, H.E. the President of AAAID stated that
AAAID is doing its best to enhance the performance of its affiliated companies,
especially in Sudan, and is preparing an ambitious plan for rehabilitation of
the companies which need rehabilitation, beside shareholding in numerous
agricultural companies in Sudan, such as the White Nile Sugar Company. He
assured the great role that can be played by Sudan with its capabilities and
natural resources for achieving Arab food security. He praised the role of the
Government of Sudan in providing all necessary facilitation for AAAID companies,
and expressed his appreciation of the developmental progress which Sudan
witnesses in various fields.
On his part, Mr. Omer Marzoug, the general manager of the company, stated that
the loan allows the company to expand the area under cultivation in the next
season to reach 60,000 feddans, adopting zero-tillage farming system, and
applying the latest agricultural technology, to achieve the highest yields in
all crops which the company intends to grow according to its agricultural plan.
He also explained that the loan would create local job opportunities and
accommodate a number of the agricultural graduates who have already been trained
by AAAID on the latest technologies. He added that the company has achieved high
yields this season, despite the experienced adverse climatic conditions of
rainfall scarcity in some areas.