Peanut Monoculture Research Articles

Environment, Memory, and the Groundnut Scheme: Britain’s Largest Colonial Agricultural Development Project and Its Global Legacy

Abstract In the late 1940s, the British state embarked on an attempt to convert about 12,000 square kilometers of bush land in remote regions of colonial East Africa into a peanut monoculture. The project, which became known simply as the “Groundnut Scheme”, constituted one of the largest colonial agricultural development initiatives in history, as well as possibly the most spectacular failure in this field. While the technical reasons for this are relatively well known, this article focuses chiefly on perceptions and memories of the Scheme, trying in particular to trace the different functions that were assigned to the social and ecological landscape of Tanganyika. As the Scheme was from the outset targeted as much at Western discourses and representations as at the actual situation in Tanganyika, three layers of context are distinguished, corresponding broadly to different geographical scales as well as specific groups of actors. On the imperial level, the project’s entanglement in British politics tended to obscure its geographic and historical specificities, transforming the transformation of Tanganyikan landscape into sets of statistical numbers, and ultimately into a largely decontextualized political buzzword. Secondly, in the framework of the international expert community, technological enthusiasm depicted East Africa as an “empty” region formable at will, despite scientific evidence to the contrary. Ironically, the mistakes and miscalculations resulting from this were so numerous and at times grotesque that they allowed a more general questioning of the basic tenets of agricultural development to be avoided. At a “local” level, the Groundnut Scheme should be understood in the context of attempts to reform the (post-) colonial social order through the modification of agricultural practices and the refashioning of the physical and ecological environment. In this sense, the project became a forerunner of the even larger Tanzanian “villagization” campaign in the 1970s. Different strands of memory of the Groundnut Scheme persist today, although their connection to the physical site(s) of the project is often tenuous. On the other hand, the Scheme did transform the social, physical, and biological landscape of Tanganyika, albeit in very different ways and in a much more limited fashion than intended.

Rotational Effects in Oklahoma Peanut Production: Prospects for Peanut Rotations in the Post‐Quota Era

The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 greatly impacted the southwest (SW) peanut (Arachis hypogaea) growing region. Due to decreased market prices, peanut has lost favor in crop rotations to other crops such as cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). Before 2002, a 12‐yr peanut rotation study was conducted in Oklahoma to investigate the agronomic benefits and economics of rotating peanut with corn (Zea mays L.), cotton, and grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]. Eight rotations were evaluated in 2‐ and 3‐yr intervals. Incidence of disease, yield, and economic profit were evaluated each year. Twelve years of data indicated rotating peanut every third year with either corn or cotton increased peanut pod yield by 520 and 490 kg ha−1, respectively, compared with the continuous peanut rotation. Two‐year rotations of peanut with corn, cotton, or sorghum performed no better than the peanut monoculture. Economic analysis indicates that, even with the removal of the peanut quota system in 2000 and a 50% reduction in peanut prices, the peanut monoculture would still remain the most profitable choice for farmers, generating economic returns of $411 ha−1, but would not be recommended due to increase in disease pressure. Recent increases in cotton yield indicate that a peanut‐cotton rotation is the best rotation for southwest producers.

Biocompatibility of Sweetpotato and Peanut in a Hydroponic System

'Georgia Red' peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) and TU-82-155 sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam] were grown in monocultured or intercropped recirculating hydroponic systems in a greenhouse using the nutrient film technique (NFT). The objective was to determine whether growth and subsequent yield would be affected by intercropping. Treatments were sweetpotato monoculture (SP), peanut monoculture (PN), and sweetpotato and peanut grown in separate NFT channels but sharing a common nutrient solution (SP-PN). Greenhouse conditions ranged from 24 to 33 degrees C, 60% to 90% relative humidity (RH), and photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) of 200 to 1700 micromoles m-2 s-1. Sweetpotato cuttings (15 cm long) and 14-day-old seedlings of peanuts were planted into growth channels (0.15 x 0.15 x 1.2 m). Plants were spaced 25 cm apart within and 25 cm apart between growing channels. A modified half-Hoagland solution with a 1 N: 2.4 K ratio was used. Solution pH was maintained between 5.5 and 6.0 for treatments involving SP and 6.4 and 6.7 for PN. Electrical conductivity (EC) ranged between 1100 and 1200 microS cm-1. The number of storage roots per sweetpotato plant was similar for both SP and SP-PN. Storage root fresh and dry mass were 29% and 36% greater, respectively, for plants in the SP-PN treatment than for plants in the SP treatment. The percent dry mass of the storage roots, dry mass of fibrous and pencil roots, and the length-to-diameter ratio of storage roots were similar for SP and SP-PN sweetpotato plants. Likewise, foliage fresh and dry mass and harvest index were not significantly influenced by treatment. Total dry mass was 37% greater for PN than for SP-PN peanut plants, and pod dry mass was 82% higher. Mature and total seed dry mass and fibrous root dry mass were significantly greater for PN than for SP-PN plants. Harvest index (HI) was similar for both treatments. Root length tended to be lower for seedlings grown in the nutrient solution from the SP-PN treatment.

Ajuste de una técnica sustractiva para el diagnóstico de posibles insuficiencias de nutrimentos minerales de suelos de la región central de Córdoba-Argentina .

Proceeding previous work for the adjustment of Chaminade's substractive method to soils of the central region of Cordoba, in 1972, a factorial experiment was conducted, three concentration level of the solutions for initial complete fertilization ( N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, and minor elements) and five levels of weekly addition of N (NH4NO3 solution ) were utilized. The experience was conducted with six samples corresponding to two soil profiles: one a zonal soil of the Manfredi Agr. Exp. Station (INTA) with a texture corresponding a silt loam and the other an alluvial soil on terraces of the Rio Tercero river, being a coarse sandy loam and representative of an area of peanut monoculture. Bye grass ( Loliuin multiflorunt L.) as utilized as test plant, valuating dry matter production by cuttings at two week intervals. Etch treatment was carried on with two replications, rotating the pots in each of them every time water or nitrogen solution was added. The analysis of the accumulated dry matter production of succesive cuttings permits to establish as optimum concentrations , or nearly so, the following: 0,5 times the concentration of the initial complete fertilization solutions and 0,25 times the concentration of the weekly supply of N as NH 4NO3 solution, both values in relation to those indicated in the original method.