Cotton Squashers -- Two Sudanese tramp down the cotton into packing sacks at Wad Medani, Sudan. The 1,000,000 acres of the riches land in the Sudan - the Nile-Irrigated 'Gezira project' - will soon be nationalised by the Sudan Government. The dusty plains have been transformed by irrigation into one of the richest cotton growing areas in the world. Started in 1925, the scheme is now the backbone of Sudanese economy. March 20, 1950. (Photo by Associated Press Photo).