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

• Superior document: African social studies series, v. 12
• Author: Swindell, Kenneth.
• TeilnehmendeR: Jeng, Alieu.
• Year of Publication: 2006
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: African social studies series ; v. 12.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (297 p.)
• Notes: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

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.

Table of 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 -- Summary -- 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 -- Summary -- 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 -- Summary -- 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 -- Summary -- 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 -- Summary and Conclusions -- Index.