The Empire of the Young: Contrasting Legacies of State Agricultural Policy for Local Capitalism and Reciprocity

Abstract

Different legacies of state formation have structured and restructured the informal institutions of reciprocity in diverse ways in these two regions of Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire. While it may be more apparent how the history of the state's interventions in political administration and social service provision would influence patterns of informal reciprocity, it is important to look beyond these two policy areas to investigate a less-obvious one: the state's role in agricultural policy over time. Village residents in these neighboring regions have experienced the state's agricultural policies differently at the local level, and thus have responded with dissimilar production choices at various points in history. This chapter examines how a recent dramatic shift in local-level production strategies has influenced local social relations, spurring a redefinition of the boundaries of social and political exclusion. RECENT DIVERGENCE IN LOCAL CASH CROP PRODUCTION IN GHANA AND COTE D'IVOIRE In the late 1990s, farmers in these two regions were choosing different cash crops. Tomatoes were becoming the new cash crop of the young in Ghana, whereas cocoa remained the primary cash crop in Cote d'Ivoire. This was a recent divergence in local production strategies with important implications for the informal institutions of reciprocity. New Tribulations for the Cocoa Farmer Since at least the early 1930s, cocoa has been the main crop grown in the two fieldsite regions. Cocoa was first established in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana in other nearby regions of the same umbrella Akan ethnic group, but quickly spread to the research areas.