EXPORT CROPS AND strongUNDERDEVELOPMENTstrong IN TANGANYIKA 1929-61.pdfVIP

EXPORT CROPS AND UNDERDEVELOPMENT IN TANGANYIKA 1929-61 B. D. BOWLES- 1. INTRODUCTION This article considers crops exported from Tanganyika during the middle and later periods of coloniaHsm from the point of view of a theory of under- development as a process. 1 It assumes that underdevelopment is not a condi- tion but a historical occurrence. and that it is different from a process of development. Underdevelopment is not a lower stage of development but the active perversion of production from the fulfilment of the needs of a society to the fulfilment of those of a different external society.2 It follows from this definition that crops produced entirely for export. as sisal. coff~ ~on were during the colonial period. were contributing to the process of underdevelopment. Their increased production should not be described as development. To do so implies that increased production for whatever purpose constitutes development. which is how the colonialists themselves used the word; or that an increased income in the hands of certain indivi. duals is development. which is how some African beneficiaries of the system have used the word. The congruence of interest between those who con- trolled the colonial state and those who produced export crops was an aim consciously pursued by the colonialists during at least the later part of the colonial period. But even those who produced for the external economy were becoming dependent on it. And the m