Book Description

Over the past twenty years, cocoa production in Nigeria has been on a downward spiral. From its Olympian heights as the second largest producer of cocoa in the world with an annual average output of about 250,000 metric tons in the early 1970s, Nigeria witnessed a precipitous decline in production to less than half its peak tonnage during this two-decade period. In consequence the country ceased to be a major cocoa producer in the world markets. Growth, Crisis and Transformation in the Cocoa Farming Economy of Southwestern Nigeria, 1900-2000 is a systematic account of the decline of cocoa production in Nigeria. It goes beyond the conventional scholarship by looking at the intersection of government policies and local environmental and ecological factors and the consequential impact on the dwindling of cocoa production. Using archival and oral sources, the book analyzes the rise and development of cocoa farming in southwest Nigeria against the extreme disruption of Yorubaland in the 19th century. The book places the emergence of cocoa farming, the family work force and the laborers in the context of the overall colonial economy of the early 20th century. It analyzes the outbreak and spread of cocoa diseases, notably, black pod and swollen shoot and the migration of farmers into new regions, Ife and Ondo to the east. Examined also are the roles played by the marketing boards, which the British established, ostensibly to provide predictability and security to the farmers, but also revenue to the colonial regime and then the regional governments of Nigeria. The book also surveys the state of the cocoa industry in the postcolonial period. It analyzes the impact of the economic policies of the immediate postcolonial governments on the industry and evaluates the impact of the oil boom that transformed Nigeria and Nigerian agriculture from the 1970s.