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p Technological assistance in developing new land and better utilisation of cultivated areas, chiefly through irrigation and mechanisation, occupies a leading place in SovietAfrican cooperation. The immense scale of irrigation construction in the Soviet Union and its rich experience in the comprehensive development of desert and arid territories have enabled Soviet organisations to render efficient assistance to developing countries in this field.

p The Egyptian example is very indicative: the country’s arable land totals some 2.9 million hectares, or close to three per cent of its territory. Estimates for 1975 put the population at 37 million, of whom more than 50 per cent were peasants. So, the per capita figure for arable land is less than 0.1 hectare.

p Egypt’s agriculture is based on water resources of the Nile, but for millennia its water was uselessly discharged in huge quantities into the Mediterranean. The commissioning of the giant Aswan hydropower complex has opened up great opportunities before the country. The High Dam built with Soviet assistance has created the world’s biggest water reservoir, whose capacity (165 billion cubic metres) equals two average annual water discharges of the Nile. This has made it possible to control the river’s water 191 resources. As a result, the volume of water that can be used for irrigation purposes has been increased to 56 billion cubic metres a year. Thus, an optimal irrigation regime has been created on all arable lands enabling farmers to gather two or more harvests annually. In addition nearly 1.4 million feddans (590,000 hectares) of new land have been irrigated, increasing the total irrigated area by 20 per cent. The Aswan High Dam has improved the water supply for basin irrigation lands (flooded by the Nile’s high water), which were used after the high water abated and yielded, as a rule, only one crop.

p The dam has protected Egypt’s cultivated lands (which all stretch along the Nile) from the adverse effect of droughts and floods. It saved the country from disastrous floods in 1964 (in the construction period) and 1975; in 1972 it averted droughts.

p The increase in irrigation water resources has doubled the output of rice. Similar changes have taken place with respect to other crops. After the commissioning of the Aswan High Dam, the average corn yield since 1974 rose by 36 per cent against 1964/65. Sugar cane cultivation has also been expanded considerably, thus increasing local sugar output. The development of 130,000 hectares of desert land in the Western Nubariya tract (the north-western part of the Nile’s estuary, Al-Tahrir Province) has been started with Soviet assistance. A mechanised multi-sectoral state farm has been organised on 4,000 hectares of the land. Its technical base consists of agricultural machines, equipment and transport facilities donated to Egypt by the Soviet Government. The first crops were sown in mid-1968 as the initial step in cultivating the desert land. Since 1971 the entire area has been sown twice a year. The variety of forage crops grown on the farm has made it possible to launch animalbreeding, and by 1975 the farm had 5,000 head of cattle. Three years after the desert land began to be cultivated, the yields of wheat and barley on selected plots reached 12 centners per hectare, and of maize 15 centners. In the winter season of 1974/75 the yield of wheat and barley averaged 23 centners per hectare over the entire sown area. In 1975 the state farm’s cereal-growing and cattle-breeding yielded £E145,000 in profits.

p Soviet design organisations participated in drawing up the blueprints for the pumping stations, power transformer 192 substations, canals, irrigation and drainage networks for Egypt’s entire newly developed area. The Soviet Union delivered large quantities of excavating machines, equipment for pumping stations, transformer substations and electric power transmission lines, and also transport facilities.

p Soviet experts have drawn up a general plan for developing 126,000 hectares of land. This offers a comprehensive solution to such problems as the planned development of new land, all-round agricultural development that is technically feasible and economically most efficient, development of related industries and a transport system, electrification of the countryside, development of a communication system, and the like. The plan provides for the establishment of 31 state farms on the bigger part of an area exceeding 95,000 hectares. The farms would grow citrus fruits, grapes, vegetables, sugar-beet, cereals, and other crops. The plan also provides for 58 cattle-breeding farms with 79,000 head of cattle and 155,000 sheep. Moreover, provision is made for building over 100 settlements, with all the necessary housing, production, service and recreation facilities, and over 160 industrial projects catering for different industries, including canneries, distilleries, and sugar plants.

p Most of the farm produce from the area would be exported and bring in an estimated £E30 million annually. The land development programme embraces a 10-year period. The expenses will also be recouped in 10 years after the projects are commissioned, which means the investment will be highly efficient.

p A training centre was set up with Soviet assistance on the newly developed desert land at Ganaklis in 1966. It has trained 1,500 skilled agricultural workers (all kinds of mechanics), who are employed on the newly developed lands.

p The Soviet Union assisted Egypt in the electrification of rural areas, including the power supply to 4,700 villages and 16,000 homesteads. It also helped power to be used more fully in agricultural production throughout the country.

p In Algeria, dry agriculture predominates though there are good opportunities for the development of irrigation farming. The government intends to build a number of small water-retaining dams in the departments of Great Kabylia, Oran, Gonstantine, Mostaganem and Tiaret.

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p Soviet experts participated in surveying these departments. On the basis of the results, Soviet design organisations drew up and handed over to Algerian institutions blueprints for the construction of 18 small and three medium retaining dams with water systems for irrigating some 10,000 hectares of new land, for improving the water supply for existing irrigational systems and for providing settlements with fresh water. In 1971 the first two storage dams were built on the rivers Arba and Tasif in Great Kabylia. They provide water for over 1,000 hectares of land now used for crop-growing.

p Two more dams on the rivers Amara and Shander have created water reservoirs for irrigating another thousand hectares.

p Soviet assistance in bringing water to Algeria’s deserts and arid regions for supplying water to the population, cattle and the soil, is of great importance for the development of Algerian agriculture and raising the peasants’ standard of living.

p Soviet experts have made geophysical, topographical and soil surveys for irrigated lands. They have proved the availability of high-quality underground water in desert areas where fresh water sources have been unknown to the local population for many centuries. For example, a water well drilled near the Bentius oasis yields 80 litres of water per second, i.e., the amount a person uses a day. Foreign companies had made several drillings before but had been unable to find water there. A well near Gerar has an even bigger yield—330 litres per second. Fresh water has also been found at Levassor, Mircali, Talha, near Biskra, and elsewhere.

p Fulfilling its initial obligations, the Soviet side had drilled 41 wells by 1967. Afterwards the Algerian side requested that the Soviet experts continue their work and their periods of stay in the country were twice prolonged. By early 1974 they had drilled 100 wells, 86 of which yielded water (in the departments of Oasis, Ores, Oran, Saida, Setif, Medea, Constantine, and Annet). Soviet organisations also undertook to equip the wells and lay down water mains to ensure the more efficient use of the water. The work so far accomplished has made possible to irrigate over 3,000 hectares, and ensure a supply of fresh water for 100,000 people and 250,000 head of cattle. In compliance with the 194 Algerian request, the Soviet Union is extending economic and technological assistance in carrying through an additional programme i’or tapping underground water reserves.

p Also of great importance in the assistance provided by the Soviet Union is the establishment of Algeria’s state repair base for maintaining and repairing agricultural machinery.

p In recent years, a network of state-owned major overhaul repair shops has been created in a number of departments, as well as a land-reclamation institute at Blida.

p The development of agricultural production has been the main economic task since the Somali Democratic Republic declared its independence. In compliance with a request from the Somali Government, Soviet experts have carried out the necessary surveys and drafted a plan i’or the use of the Juba River’s water resources. Their recommendations envisaged the construction of a water storage dam in the river’s upper reaches to increase its irrigation capacity and, very important, to prevent the disastrous annual floods which hamper the development of the region’s economy in general and agriculture in particular.

p The Soviet Union agreed to extend economic and technological assistance in setting up state farms for growing cotton and oil-bearing crops in the lower Juba over 8,200 hectares and undertook to buildj gravity-flow irrigation facilities, a hydroelectric station and power transmission lines.

p Soviet organisations fulfilled the required design preparation work, delivered large quantities of earth-moving and agricultural machines and means of transportation, and sent experts to provide technological assistance. As a result, the work on developing new land was in full swing in 1963, and especially in 1964, but it stopped in 1966 because of the Somali Government’s unwillingness to continue the cooperation.

p Following a military coup, in October 1969, the Somali side requested the Soviet Government to renew cooperation.

p Under the inter-government protocol of 6 May 1975, Soviet organisations assisted Somalia in building a dam and a 5,000 kw hydroelectric station at Fanole, as well as 195 a main canal with a water-supply network for irrigating 8,300 hectares. A settlement was built near the town of Jilib. Over 600 Somali and 70 Soviet experts worked togelher on the project in 1976. Many Soviet machines and mechanisms were delivered to be employed during the construction.

p In view of the sizable increase in the number of agricultural machines, earth-moving and road-building equipment in Somalia, Soviet organisations helped establish a slate-owned system of maintenance and repair shops under the Department for Technical Services. Such shops were built in Mogadishu, Johar, and Jamame.

p Soviet organisations also rendered Somalia technological assistance in drilling wells for tapping underground water to irrigate pastures.

p The Soviet Government granted extensive free aid to Somalia to help overcome the disastrous effect on the economy of the recent drought. It delivered motor vehicles and offered aircraft to be used for relief purposes.

p Unfortunately, the Somali leaders, blinded by chauvinism and nationalism, in 1977 chose the path of aggression against neighbouring Ethiopia. The Soviet Union naturally took a just stand on this, thus provoking the open enmity of the Somali leaders. They seem to have forgotten, or are unwilling to remember, the Soviet people’s assistance and their free aid to the Somali people.

p In effecting measures to increase its food resources, Guinea asked the Soviet Union for economic and technological assistance in expanding its rice fields and thus increasing its rice production. There are a number of rivers in the country’s southern coastal area that discharge huge quantities of water into the ocean, especially during the flood period. Given proper control over this and protection of the rivers from the ocean’s salt water, the fertile soil in this part of the country may be suitable for rice growing during tidal periods. It was therefore decided to start work on developing this area. The first step was to develop the Monshon land tract located in the northern part of Guinea’s coastal zone, some 70 km from Boffa. This is an area of some 3,000 hectares of fertile land suitable for rice growing.

p Under a contract signed in 1968, the Soviet side started 196 equipment deliveries in 1969-70 and began sending experts, but due to Guinea’s financial difficulties the work was suspended and resumed only in 1972, when construction of the main canal was started in the Monshon area.

p The irrigation project was drawn up by the FAO. Soviet experts prepared the working drawings, made surveys, adjusted and corrected the design documents. In 1972, a dam was built to protect the area from the ocean water. The first 200 hectares of newly developed land were planted in 1973. Soviet organisations fulfilled their contract obligations and, at the same time, Soviet experts trained skilled Guinean agricultural workers for the new rice-growing lands. The Soviet Union helped to build a big agricultural machinery repair workshop near Conakry. The Soviet assistance included design work, deliveries of equipment and materials, and sending of Soviet experts to facilitate the construction, adjustment and commissioning of the project.

p Tunisia has vast areas of idle land that could be used for crop growing if artificially irrigated. Lake Achkel contains the country’s largest reserves of fresh water. Its tapping is of immense importance for increasing Tunisia’s output of foodstuffs and agricultural raw materials.

p Soviet experts have completed the design and survey work and handed over to Tunisian authorities a general layout for land-reclamation measures in the area of Lake Achkel. As requested by the Tunisian side, a dam on the river Resala was chosen as the priority project. This will retain some 6 million cubic metres of water. Competent Soviet organisations worked out a project report and shipped the required equipment, building mechanisms, materials and motor vehicles. They also designed and prepared the working drawings for an irrigation network on the land tract adjacent to the water reservoir.

p In the Republic of Mali, the French-owned agro-industrial complex Office du Niger was nationalised after independence. This is a large and complex enterprise with its own irrigation systems and farm-produce processing plants ( cotton-cleaning, rice-shelling, and sugar-making plants, a creamery, and soap works). In response to a request from the Mali side, the Soviet Government agreed to provide economic and technological assistance in expanding ricegrowing areas by completing the new land development 197 work at Niono and Kurumari and organising state farms there.

p Since the technological cooperation with the USSR began, Office du Niger has renewed its machine-and-tractor pool by 70-80 per cent thanks to Soviet deliveries. Its motor vehicle pool is entirely Soviet-made. Following the recommendations of Soviet experts, a 1,200 kw-capacity diesel electric power station was completed under Soviet supervision at Niono in 1969, thus ensuring a continuous power supply to the Office du Niger’s production centres, where its processing plants, repair shops and motor vehicle pools are located. Besides, a major repair workshop was built for maintaining and repairing the company’s agricultural machines and tractors. Soviet experts have trained more than 500 local mechanics, repair workers and other categories of skilled agricultural labour.

p In Zambia, by 1971, Soviet experts had already drilled 109 of the 300 wells envisaged in the 1972-76 five-year economic development plan for the Eastern Province. Ninety-six wells gave a water yield totalling 465 cubic metres per hour. Given Zambia’s daily rate of water consumption (50 litres per person), this will supply almost 100,000 people or some 20 per cent of the Province’s population. In 1973, Soviet experts trained 44 Zambian drillers, four of whom were sent to the Soviet Union to continue their studies at Soviet higher educational establishments. Consid- < ering the good progress in well drilling, the Zambian side requested that the Soviet experts’ stay be prolonged from two to five years. In 1975, forty-five more wells were drilled and 13 wells repaired. This work is still going on.

Following the top-level Soviet-Nigerian negotiations in Moscow in May 1974, the Soviet side agreed in principle to render the Federal Republic of Nigeria economic and technological assistance in building small dams with irrigation systems, in drilling water wells and making tools and light mechanisms for agricultural work. The Soviet side also expressed its readiness to consider deliveries of Soviet-made farm machines and appliances to Nigeria. Soviet organisations sent experts to the country to draw up proposals concerning the opportunities for cooperation.

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