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The organization of agricultural production.

Authors :
Hart, Keith
Source :
Political Economy of West African Agriculture; 1982, Vol. 1 Issue 2, p52-82, 31p
Publication Year :
1982

Abstract

The population of a country in which commodity economy is poorly developed (or not developed at all) is almost exclusively agricultural. This, however, must not be understood as meaning that the population is engaged solely in agriculture: it only means that the population, while engaged in agriculture, itself processes the products of agriculture, and that exchange and the division of labor are almost non-existent. The traditional organization of farming Any discussion of modem developments in West African agriculture should begin and end with the rural division of labor that constitutes the social context of productive strategies. This chapter begins with a brief recapitulation of traditional economic structure in areas marked either by a complex structure of commodity production or by a simple division of labor. After a detailed examination of forest and savannah agriculture in the modern period and a more cursory look at the use of livestock, the chapter concludes with an assessment of the effects of these developments on the rural division of labor as a whole. As we have seen, traditional agriculture was carried out within the framework of a wider division of labor, which was developed to a high degree in some places, notably in the savannah civilizations around the Niger and Senegal rivers. The division of labor was less developed in the intermediate belt and in the forest away from the coast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISBNs :
9780521284233
Volume :
1
Issue :
2
Database :
Complementary Index
Journal :
Political Economy of West African Agriculture
Publication Type :
Book
Accession number :
77203683
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511558016.003