ENGLISH

The Political Economy of West African Agriculture

By Keith Hart

Book information

Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Year
1982
ISBN
9780521240734, 0521284236, 9780511558016, 0521240735, 0511558015, 9780521284233
LCC
HD2140 .H37 1982
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
5 MB (5757318 bytes)
Series
Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology
Pages
235\240
Topic
Education
Time added
2011-06-04 13:46:07

Description

West Africa's agriculture has, for 150 years, been heavily geared toward export, yet the region is one of the world's poorest. Keith Hart examines this question, focusing particularly on how this situation has affected the indigenous peoples of West Africa. Commerce has grown impressively, but productivity remains low and capital accumulation is retarded. The reasons exist primarily in internal conditions shaping social institutions. Before, during, and since colonialism, the particular problems of these preindustrial states have shaped agricultural development more than the pressure supposedly emanating from the 'world system' of international capitalism. This book, following the classical economists as well as Marx and Lenin, argues for the necessity of rapid capitalist penetration into West African agriculture. The book is also a readable introduction to the history and ethnography of the region as a whole.

Similar books