| Abstract: | Irish potatoes were first introduced into the Jos Plateau area of Nigeria in the 1930s and production grew from 90 tons in 1939 to 60,000 tons in 1987. The present article focuses on the origins and development of Irish potatoes in the Jos Plateau area, discussing the factors that made peasant farmers take up production, the methods and technology used in cultivating the crop, and its marketing, distribution and consumption. The author argues that the production of Irish potatoes, like other crops introduced by Europeans, did not so much benefit the mass of the local people as the expatriate population and the local elites. While production was in the hands of peasant farmers, marketing was entirely controlled by expatriate firms and Hausa middlemen. Through the price controls which were adopted, the peasant farmer was placed in a disadvantaged position. There was little surplus left for him either to reinvest and thus expand his production or transform the basis of his operations. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] |
AfricaBib 
Periodical article
Leiden University catalogue
WorldCat