SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis examines colonial agricultural policy in Tanganyika between 1920 and 1961. It describes how a dual system developed and the many and varied factors in East Africa and Europe which influenced the making of policy. The dual policy was re-established after the first World War to satisfy immediate needs; but it could only be sustained by land laws and immigration policies which attracted private investment from overseas. Before 1939, alienation of land was permitted if it aided the economic development of the Territory; but it was also permitted if it served a social purpose - it was believed that 'contact' was a practical means of modernizing African communities. During the inter-Wars period, above all else it was the German threat which influenced the official classes. After 1945, emphasis was placed on development and the restructuring of the political system to permit orderly progress toward self-government. The dual system continued each part of it involving policies which led to criticism and resentment of the colonial administration. Next, a third sector was added in the form of the public corporation. The groundnut scheme was the fore-runner of several developments in this sector. Next, the political consequences of agricultural policy are examined. Decisions affecting land usage and soil conservation ensured the success of nationalism; conversely, changes in the political system ensured the end of settler influence. In the devising of land usage policies, there was an essential continuity; if this fact is taken into account, policies are more easily explained. Other conclusions are as follows: that support for the dual system, with a place for private investment in agriculture, has not been shown to be the cause of underdevelopment; that if time permitted, an efficient smallholder farming system might have developed; and finally, that the European settlers must at last be consigned to history.