Migrants, credit and climate : the Gambian groundnut trade, 1834-1934 / by Kenneth Swindell and Alieu Jeng.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Swindell, Kenneth.

Contributor:

Jeng, Alieu.

Series:

African social studies series ; v. 12.

African social studies series, 1568-1203 ; v. 12

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Peanut industry--Gambia--History.

Peanut industry.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (297 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This text provides an overview of the Gambian groundnut trade, assessing the various political, economic, social and environmental forces, which shaped the trade locally and internationally, and their contemporary relevance to theperception and transformation of West African agriculture.

Contents:

Intro

Title Page

Copyright Page

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

List of abbreviations

List of figures

Measurements, weights and monetary values

Introduction

Chapter One The Gambian groundnut trade 1834-1893: The emergence of an agricultural export economy

The pre-specialization period of groundnut production, 1834-1857

The conditions for adaptation and change

The Anglo-French connection

The beginnings of specialization, 1857-1893

The groundnut trade and warfare

The merchants, trading networks and credit

Producer resistance

Summary

Chapter Two Migrant Farmers: SeraWoollies and Tillibunkas

Labour and the groundnut cultivation cycle

The development of the migrant labour system

Labour migration from the Upper Senegal valley in the early 19th century

A broadening of the migrant and producer base

Migrant farmers: contracts and obligations

Local labour and groundnut production

Strange Farmers in the late 19th century

Chapter Three Food farming and the groundnut trade

The farming environment

Gambian farming systems

Land

Rice farming

Groundnut cultivation and food supply

Changing patterns of food production and rice importing

Chapter Four The beginnings of colonial rule, 1893-1913

Partition and the proposed cession of The Gambia

The establishment of the Protectorate and the introduction of taxation

The abolition of slavery

Strange Farmers and abolition

Groundnut production and environmental disturbance

The Merchant Combine

Attempts at diversification

Chapter Five Success and disaster, boom and slump: the groundnut trade, 1913-1922

The 1913 drought

A deteriorating climate?

The War and the groundnut trade

Groundnut producer prices and rice imports, 1913-1920.

Strange Farmers and groundnuts in the early 20th century

Pestilence, floods and droughts, 1917-1920

The credit crisis of 1921

De-monetization

Chapter Six Towards and agricultural policy 1923-1934

The Gambian groundnut economy and the trade depression, 1923-1934

The Agricultural Department

The Strange Farmer debate

The rice and seed debt

The resumption of rice distribution

The irrigation and mixed farming schemes: enter the experts

Summary and Conclusions

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-281-38432-1

9786611384326

90-474-0616-8

OCLC:

290586852