Int. J. Sustainable Agricultural Management and Informatics, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2015 49 Copyright © 2015 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Impact of changing policies on agricultural productivity: a case of the Gezira scheme, Sudan Eltigani Elnour Bashier Abdelgalil* and Ali Mohamed Adeeb Water Management and Irrigation Institute, University of Gezira, P.O. Box 20, Wad Medani, Sudan Email: eltigani9@hotmail.com Email: amadeeb@yahoo.com *Corresponding author Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of changing agricultural policies on the productivity of agricultural crops and area in the Gezira scheme, Sudan. The study focuses on four major institutional changes namely, joint account system (JAS), individual account system (IAS), economic liberalisation (EL) and water users associations (WUAs) in the Gezira scheme. Data on productivity and area of the crops were collected for the period of 40 years from 1970s to 2009 to investigate the historical impact of policies on productivity in Gezira scheme. Data were statistically analysed using SPSS. The results indicate that sorghum productivity and area have been increasing owing to change in policies. Cotton productivity and area show decreasing trend with time. Groundnuts productivity gives mixed results. The accumulated impact of IAS, EL and WUAs gives positive results on sorghum but negative results for cotton. It can be said that change of institutional polices and arrangements in irrigated sector have an influence on productivity of agricultural crops. Keywords: agricultural management; crops productivity; changing policies; Gezira scheme; Sudan. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Abdelgalil, E.E.B. and Adeeb, A.M. (2015) ‘Impact of changing policies on agricultural productivity: a case of the Gezira scheme, Sudan’, Int. J. Sustainable Agricultural Management and Informatics, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp.49–60. Biographical notes: Eltigani Elnour Bashier Abdelgalil is an Assistant Professor of Water Management at the Water Management and Irrigation Institute of the University of Gezira. He holds a PhD on Water Management at the University of Gezira 2009, a MSc on Economics of Water Resources, 2003 and a BSc on Agricultural Science of the Faculty for Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Gezira. 1999. Currently, he is the Dean of Water Management and Irrigation Institute. Ali Mohamed Adeeb is a Professor of Irrigation Engineer, he holds a PhD on Irrigation Engineering from Colorado State University 1984, a MSc (Engineering) from Washington State University, 1981 and a BSc University of Khartoum (Agriculture – Mechanization), 1975. Currently, he is a staff member at the Water Management and Irrigation Institute of the University of Gezira.