• Solution: Implement legislation requiring large scale farmers to implement crop rotation, and to push small scale and subsistence farmers to implement crop rotation as well.

• Background information: Agriculture in the Nile river basin accounts for approximately 97% of sub-surface water withdrawals in Sudan. The main crops that are grown are wheat, rice, and maize. These crops demand lots of water, and with the growing water scarcity issues in the Nile basin, they would not be sustainable in the long run. Since the salinity levels in the water and on dry land increased, certain crops have experienced lower yields during their agricultural dominant time for growth. Rice and wheat are more salt tolerant species, so the crop yields are not affected by the salinity problems the Nile basin is facing. Crop rotation between a salt tolerant and a lesser salt tolerant crop would be beneficial to the lands ecological condition. Crop rotation also reduces the amount of pathogens and pests present on the land by alternating deep-rooted and shallow-rooted plants. Growing the same plants in the same area will result in the depletion of certain nutrients in the soil, and by rotating crops the nutrient levels vary which results in a different ratio of nutrients, and thus less depletion.

• Solution sustainability: This solution would be very sustainable in the long-term. By implementing crop rotation, the ecological conditions of the land would improve significantly, reducing nutrient depletion of the soil, improving crop yields year after year, and if other less water demanding crops were introduced into the rotation, it would lessen the amount of water needed for irrigation, which would allow that extra water to be used elsewhere.

• Potential obstacles: There are a few potential obstacles that could prevent crop rotation from being an effective solution. These obstacles mainly deal with the individual farmers, as they might not want to pay more money for different crops to rotate in and out, or not care about taking the time and putting in the effort to rotate their crops after every season. Another obstacle could be that the farmers do not see a positive change in their crop yields immediately so they give up on rotation efforts. Another big obstacle might be people not following the rules from the legislation requiring crop rotation. Since many people in Sudan are nomadic or subsistence farmers, they might not be interested in crop rotation or think it will help them in any way. 

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