The pastoralist groups whose dry-season camps lie on the river Atbara, upstream of the New Halfa scheme have recieved less attention than many other pastoralist societies in Sudan, but are an important example of the direct encroachment on pastoralist resources by the extensive mechanised rainfed farming. This paper introdues the area and the main pasotralist group, the Lahawin, and describes the threat to them of mechanised farming and other factors.

Extensive mechanised rainfed farming, of sorghun (and sesame in some ares) has been expanding in the rainlands of Sudan since the 1950s and recieved a further bost in the late 1970s with the injection of Saudi and other capital under the so-called 'Arab breadbasket' policy.