Agriculturalists and activists in Sudan’s Northern State have stopped and blocked the central streets in the state, including the vital links to the Egyptian border. The blockage that has interfered, especially cargo traffic, since January 9 was set up in protest against a sharp rise in the cost of electricity. However, the people complained that their demands have been “politicised in some circles”.
However, the Chairman of the Farmers Association of the Northern State, ‘Ridha El Idrisi’, declared that they open the roads in all areas of the region Today. Those would contain the Sheryan El Shimal roadway and the Hamdab Bridge in Merowe, linked with the Egyptian border at several points.
Furthermore, El Idrisi said that the blockage of roads began because of some humanitarian conditions at the time, as the authorities did respond to the farmer’s demands; however, he added that “some political officers used the demand of farmers and directing them to serve their political agenda.
He added that the Mobilisation Committee would set a meeting where they discuss the matter so they can be made a suitable decision to resolve the issue and expressed the hope that the administration would react to the farmers’ needs and drop their plan to increase the electricity prices.
In 2021, the Federal Ministry of Finance planned a significant increase in electricity prices by 2022. It decided to continue lifting subsidies on consumer goods to meet the demand of the World Bank. At the start of January 2021, the power tariffs had already increased by 500 per cent.
As per the Framers interview, the increase in electricity prices affects the agriculture field in Nile River state and Northern State.
They even alerted the government of the failure of the current agricultural season if they didn’t cancel these increments, especially it would leave an effect on the wheat harvest, which they said needs to be rinsed before it fails.
