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The level of economic development of modern Africa is primarily associated with the continent’s colonial past. The contemporary socio-economic situation of the local population is characterized by poverty and a lack of work opportunities (Europian Commission). These circumstances may be related to changed farming practices and agricultural traditions, which in the pre-colonial period were the main sources of food and income for indigenous Africans. With the spread of colonial rule, local agriculture was suppressed, crash crops were grown for export, and white settler communities developed. These factors have led to disparities in the economic development of various regions, impoverishment of the population, and lack of food security in the long term perspective.
The agricultural exploitation of Africa for the export of primary materials by Europeans could have a significant negative impact on the development of the continent’s economy. Fibaek and Green emphasize that “much of the continent’s past and present poverty can be explained by colonial institutions” (73). The colonial rule has largely influenced the alienation of local farmers on the continent from fertile lands, as well as preventing them access to the markets for profitable trade in cash crops. These factors made farming unprofitable for the indigenous population of Africa and led to the degradation of the local agricultural tradition. Thus, during colonial rule, for many Africans, wage workers “appear to have been in a better position to diversify their livelihood” (Fibaek and Green 74). These processes, in particular, could affect the growth of the slave trade, which is not only a significant economic but also a socio-cultural consequence.
The process of commercializing agriculture and farming on the continent has had a decisive influence on determining the future of the region. Roessler et al. note that “Africa’s contemporary economic geography was shaped by the cash crop revolution that swept the continent from the late 1700s onward” (41). The researchers emphasize that a number of characteristics of the continent, including the low diversity of domesticable animals and plants, the scarcity of water, and various diseases, have become the basis for development models (Roessler et al. 2). However, the colonial exploitation of agricultural resources in some regions of the continent has led to significant inequality in the evolvement of different areas. De Haas and Papaioannou underline that “the adoption and expansion of cash crops for export was also a key determinant of economic development and agrarian change in tropical Africa during the colonial era” (1). Thus, colonialism largely shaped the present economic conditions by creating a new agricultural tradition on the continent.
The need of the industrialized imperialist countries for agricultural products led to the need for the continent’s production to shift from growing local plants to new crops. This process began active development in the early 1800s in West Africa with the weakening of the slave trade (Roessler et al. 3). The process of innovation of the agricultural tradition in Africa and the transition to the cultivation of cash crops was conducted mainly by smallholder farmers (Roessler et al. 3). Nevertheless, many of them refused to adopt the new farming conditions, which negatively affected their well-being and income. In particular, farmers in West Africa have benefited from market access as well as more favorable natural conditions to maximize the profits from coffee, palm oil, and tobacco production (De Haas and Papaioannou 1). At the same time, other regions of the continent, less suitable for cash crops, could not take full advantage of the new opportunities, which led to the disruption of the economic balance of the territories.
The disparities between the development of the agricultural tradition in different areas depend to a large extent on the natural resources available in various biomes of the continent. In particular, inhabitants of forest and savanna regions “faced different resource endowments” (De Haas and Papaioannou 1). While the forested areas had more fertile soils and favorable rainy seasons, they were suitable for the cultivation of caloric crops such as coffee, cocoa, yams, and bananas. This aspect allowed the inhabitants of East Africa not only to have sufficient food supplies but also to grow products for export. At the same time, the people of the savannah were limited in resources and forced to grow labor-intensive crops during the short periods of the agricultural season. Thus, these regions were unsuitable for the simultaneous cultivation of export and food resources. For example, according to De Haas and Papaioannou, “bimodal rainfall distribution was a crucial factor in the process of cotton adoption among Uganda’s banana and grain farmers” (2). Thus, the territorial features and the availability of natural resources played a significant role in the economic development of various regions of the continent during the colonial period.
The cash crops revolution has impacted not only the economy but also the institutional development of Africa. With the proliferation of European merchants across the continent, domestic production has begun to be suppressed. Areas favorable for the cultivation of export products are have been used exclusively for the production of the exported raw materials, while the manufacturing has been transferred outside the continent. Thus, only important trading points, as well as cultivation regions, were valuable, while “other areas were either neglected or relegated as a labor reserve and intentionally underdeveloped” (Roessler et al. 4). Additionally, colonial rule involved significant investment in infrastructure in profitable areas of Africa. Moreover, the suppression of local production deprived the continent of the opportunity to develop its own strong economy. In the long term, these factors negatively influenced the economic development of the continent and increased disparities between regions.
The colonial strive for the commercial use of the continent for the production of cash crops has led to significant changes in agricultural traditions and the ecological environment of Africa. Boateng notes that the exploitation policy of British rule in Ghana has led to significant degradation of land and forest coverage in the region (2). In the pre-colonial period, farming practices in Ghana “were governed by certain traditional knowledge systems which were ignored by the colonial authorities” (Boateng 2). Colonial administrators of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have not taken into account the features of the savannah lands in the northwest of Ghana. The policy of the colonialists to transform the agricultural tradition of the region has led to a deterioration in both the economic and socio-cultural situation of the country. First of all, the cultivation of crops that are more demanding to the conditions led to significant soil degradation, which conditionally provided the local residents with food resources. Given the desire of the colonialists for more mass production, interest in this region gradually declined, which led to the subsequent impoverishment of the population.
Another feature of the colonial administration that influenced the economic development of the region was the support of the white settlers on the continent. Vekemans and Segers note that despite the vast knowledge of the local population about the cultivation of various crops, the Belgian rule in the Congo of 1910-1920 actively deprived them of accessing the land (222-223). The greatest focus was on the adaptation of Western agricultural practices through the labor of white settlers rather than the development of local farming. Thus, investments and support were provided exclusively to projects for the development of small farms of newcomers not only in the Congo but also in other colonies of West and North Africa (Vekemans and Segers 221). Most importantly, in the early period of colonial rule, Europeans sought to create communities of white settlers and farmers to provide food for other workers. The local population was left with no alternatives other than low-paying jobs for settler farmers (Fibaek and Green 73). The degradation of the agricultural tradition among the local population has led to long-term negative consequences in the form of the destroyed economy of the continent.
The slow development and focus of the European colonialists on meeting the needs of industrialization often led to food insecurity of the local population. This process occurred since the colonial rule “dismantled the setup through land alienation, taxation, migrant labour and system of destocking” (Murei et al. 19). In particular, European people forced local farmers to abandon their usual plants in favor of cash crops. For example, in Kenya, Nandi people have traditionally grown “millet, sorghum and tubers” (Murei et al. 16). The colonialists adapted the land for the cultivation of maize, tea, and coffee, which were not consumed by the local population. Moreover, the cultivation of cash crops required farmers to buy certain fertilizers and maintain machinery, which forced them to take loans. However, due to the unpredictable seasonality, the harvest was often not profitable enough, leaving indigenous people with debts and no food resources. These factors significantly worsened the economic situation of many local farmers, lowering the level of food security.
The dwindling supply of livelihoods, as well as the inability of indigenous peoples to make money from selling cash crops, has led to more global economic and socio-cultural consequences. Rönnbäck and Theodoridis argue that in Senegambia, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the productivity of both land and labor in agriculture was extremely low (227). The study was conducted on several crops, including “cotton, indigo, millet, maize, and rice” (Rönnbäck and Theodoridis 227). These factors indicate that historically, natural conditions for growing cash crops in drier regions of Africa have not been profitable enough. In this regard, the popularity of the slave trade increased since it was more profitable to sell slaves than to use them for local farming (Rönnbäck and Theodoridis 211). Thus, the cultivation of new crops on the continent led not only to the impoverishment of the population, the degradation of the agricultural tradition but also to the development of the slave trade. Therefore, this circumstance also negatively affected the long-term economic development of Africa, as it turned local inhabitants into cheap labor or slaves.
The colonial period is characterized by the exploitation of the agricultural sector in Africa to make a profit and provide the industrialization of Western countries with raw materials. The adaptation of the continent to the needs of the colonialists led to extensive degradation of the agricultural tradition of local residents. In the longer term, they became unable to provide themselves with food security due to partial degradation of soil and alienation from fertile areas, as well as the spread of cash crops. Additionally, colonization has led to significant disparities between regions with different natural conditions. Finally, the decline in earning opportunities for local residents has led to an increase in the slave trade. All these factors combined could serve as the basis for the current economic issues of Africa.
Works Cited
Boateng, Peter. “Land Access, Agricultural Land Use Changes and Narratives about Land Degradation in the Savannahs of Northeast Ghana during the Pre-Colonial and Colonial Periods.” Social Sciences, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1-21. Web.
De Hass, Michiel, and Kostadis J. Papaioannou. “Resource Endowments and Agricultural Commercialization in Colonial Africa: Did Labour Seasonality and Food Security Drive Uganda’s Cotton Revolution?” EHES Working Papers in Economic History, no. 111, 2017, pp. 1-32.
Europian Commission. “Unemployment and Economic Issues are the Main Concerns of African Youth.” Europian Comission Science Hub, 2020, Web.
Fibaek, Maria, and Erick Green. “Labour Control and the Establishment of Profitable Settler Agriculture in Colonial Kenya, c. 1920–45.” Economic History of Developing Regions, vol. 32, no. 1, 2019, pp. 72-110. Web.
Murei, Miriam, et al. “Impact of Colonialism on the Indigenous Farming Practises of the Nandi People in Kenya, 1895-1963.” African Research Journal of Education and Social Sciences, vol. 7, no. 3, 2020, pp. 9-20.
Roessler, Philip, et al. “The Cash Crop Revolution, Colonialism and Legacies of Spatial Inequality: Evidence from Africa.” CSAE Working Paper Series, no. 12, 2020, pp. 1-52.
Rönnbäck, Klas, and Dimitrios Theodoridis. “African Agricultural Productivity and the Transatlantic Slave Trade: Evidence from Senegambia in the Nineteenth Century.” The Economic History Review, vol. 72, no. 1, 2018, pp. 209-232. Web.
Vekemans, Charlotte, and Yves Segers. “Settler Farming, Agricultural Colonisation and Development in Katanga (Belgian Congo), 1910-1920.” Historia Agraria, no. 81, 2020, pp. 195-226. Web.
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