The agricultural and forest products of British West AfricaDudgeon, Gerald C. (Gerald Cecil)
History
The agricultural and forest products of British West Africa
Dudgeon, Gerald C. (Gerald Cecil)
Agriculture -- Africa, West; Forest products -- Africa, West
=Ploughing.=—Cattle are plentiful, even to the extent of there
being an insufficiency of fodder for them in the dry season in some
localities. They are chiefly kept for the purpose of displaying
the wealth of their owners, and are not employed for any kind of
farm work. Notwithstanding the shortage of manual labour and the
successful demonstrations made by the Government, through the agency
of the Roman Catholic Fathers at the Abuko Agricultural School, to
prove the value of substituting animal draught for manual labour
in tilling the land, the prejudice on the part of the natives
against the use of their cattle for ploughing or cartage has not
been overcome. A photograph is given showing a native with a Canary
Island plough drawn by locally-trained bullocks (Fig. 2). Owing to
the failure attending the efforts to introduce ploughing and cattle
breeding at Abuko, where, for the latter purpose, some Ayrshire
bulls were provided, the Govermnent withdrew the provisional subsidy
in 1911.
=Land Tenure.=—Land ownership is hereditary and descends from
father to son among the Mandingoes and Joloffs. No fees are paid
or presents given to chiefs when a transfer is made. Europeans can
rent land from Government in cases where it is not held or claimed
by a native. Grants are apparently issued for various periods,
but freehold rights are not given.
The rules regarding the itinerant, so-called “strange farmers,”
who annually visit the country to plant groundnuts, vary to some
extent in different parts of the Protectorate. Where hereditary
ruling chiefs exist, a tax of 4_s_. per head is paid to them. In
other places, half of this tax goes to Government, one-quarter to
the chief, and one-quarter to the farmer’s landlord. The landowner
generally gives the groundnut seed and food as well as a piece of
land to be cultivated. In payment for the seed and food, it is a
rule to give one-tenth of the crop. During the time the strange
farmer is in occupation he is expected to give one or two days’
work each week on the landowner’s own farm.
=Labour.=—There is no fixed rate paid by the Government for
labour. All the work on a farm is done by the owner and his own boys,
but occasionally others come in to assist from the neighbouring
farms, but no payment is made—only a present of kolas being
usually given.
=Agricultural Schools.=—An agricultural school, previously
referred to, was started at Abuko, near Lammin, under the
Roman Catholic Fathers there, and a subsidy was granted by the
Government especially for the purpose of educating the sons of large
cultivators and chiefs in the use of ploughs and other labour-saving
implements. A stipulation was made that the work should be inspected
by a Government officer from time to time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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