The History of Crop Cultivation in West Africa: a Bibliographical Guide

Abstract

T is only in the last few years that the study of African agricultural history has spread from a few specialists to a much wider public as part of the surge of interest in the African past connected with the independence of the new African nations. Nor is it only historians who are concerned, since the intensified study of the theory of economic growth and its application to underdeveloped countries has led economists and political scientists to turn to the historical record for enlightenment and guidance. Nevertheless it is somewhat surprising that the study of African agricultural history-at any rate insofar as it relates to West Africa-should have been relatively neglected in Britain since West African agricultural products have been entering this country in considerable quantities since the i 890's. We have long been familiar with cocoa, coffee, bananas, ginger, and other obviously tropical products, but it is not always realized what large quantities of palm-oil, palm-kernel oil, and groundnut oil go into our soap and margarine; although farmers are well aware of their dependence on groundnuts to provide the protein content of their cattle cake. It is, however, extremely doubtful whether many people appreciate the close link between their daily pint of milk and the northern Nigerian peasant wielding his hoe under the scorching sun. The basic figures for West African crop exports have been summarized in Tables I, 2, and 3.2 In i960 Africa produced 9i per cent of the world's total supply of palm-kernel oil, amounting to 825,ooo metric tons, and of this total, 663,000 metric tons or 8o per cent were produced in West Africa-the great bulk (429,000 metric tons) coming from Nigeria. In palm-oil Africa was not quite so dominant, producing 67 per cent of the world's supply, of which West Africa provided just under half; but Nigeria, though it had slipped behind the Congo, was still a major producer exporting I 92,000 metric tons. In cocoa production West Africa's dominance of the world market is well known. Of 840,000 metric tons of cocoa which entered into world trade in I 960, Africa produced 76 per cent, nearly all of which came from three West African countries-Ghana (formerly Gold Coast) 308,ooo metric tons, Nigeria I95,000 metric tons, and Ivory Coast go,ooo metric tons. Finally, in groundnut production, although Africa's share of the world's total was only 29 per cent in i960,