Palm Oil and Protest African Studies Series 59
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PALM OIL AND PROTEST AFRICAN STUDIES SERIES 59 GENERAL EDITOR J. M. Lonsdale, Lecturer in History and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. ADVISORY EDITORS J. D. Y. Peel, Charles Booth Professor of Sociology, University of Liverpool. John Sender, Faculty of Economics and Fellow ofWolfson College, Cambridge. Published in collaboration with THE AFRICAN STUDIES CENTRE, CAMBRIDGE OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES 6 Labour in the South African Gold Mines, 1911-1969 Francis Wilson 14 Culture, Tradition and Society in the West African Novel Emmanuel Obiechina 18 Muslim Brotherhoods in Nineteenth-century Africa B. G. Martin 20 Liberia and Sierra Leone: An Essay in Comparative Politics Christopher Clapham 23 West African States: Failure and Promise: A Study in Comparative Politics John Dunn 25 A Modern History of Tanganyika John Iliffe 26 A History of African Christianity 1950-1975 Adrian Hastings 28 The Hidden Hippopotamus: Reappraisal in African History: The Early Colonial Experience in Western Zambia Gwyn Prins 29 Families Divided: The Impact of Migrant Labour in Lesotho Colin Murray 30 Slavery, Colonialism and Economic Growth in Dahomey 1640-1960 Patrick Manning 31 Kings, Commoners and Concessionaires: The Evolution and Dissolution of the Nineteenth- century Swazi State Philip Bonner 32 Oral Poetry and Somali Nationalism: The Case of Say y id Muhammad 'Abdille Hasan Said S. Samatar 33 The Political Economy ofPondoland 1860-1930: Production, Labour, Migrancy and Chiefs in Rural South Africa William Beinart 34 Volkskapitalisme: Class, Capital and Ideology in the Development of Afrikaner Nationalism 1934-1948 Dan O'Meara 35 The Settler Economies: Studies in the Economic History of Kenya and Southern Rhodesia 1900-1963 Paul Mosley 36 Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa Paul E. Lovejoy 37 Amilcar Cabral: Revolutionary Leadership and People's War Patrick Chabal 38 Essays on the Political Economy of Rural Africa Robert H. Bates 39 Ijeshas and Nigerians: The Incorporation of a Yoruba Kingdom, 1890s-1970s J. D. Y. Peel 40 Black People and the South African War 1899-1902 Peter Warwick 41 A History of Niger 1850-1960 Finn Fuglestad 42 Industrialisation and Trade Union Organisation in South Africa 1924-1955 Jon Lewis 43 The Rising of the Red Shawls: A Revolt in Madagascar 1895-1899 Stephen Ellis 44 Slavery in Dutch South Africa Nigel Worden 45 Law, Custom and Social Order: The Colonial Experience in Malawi and Zambia Martin Chanock 46 Salt of the Desert Sun: A History of Salt Production and Trade in the Central Sudan Paul E. Lovejoy 47 Marrying Well: Status and Social Change among the Educated Elite in Colonial Lagos Kristin Mann 48 Language and Colonial Power: The Appropriation ofSwahili in the Former Belgian Congo 1880-1938 Johannes Fabian 49 The Shell Money of the Slave Trade Jan Hogendorn and Marion Johnson 50 Political Domination in Africa: Reflections on the Limits of Power edited by Patrick Chabal 51 The Southern Marches of Imperial Ethiopia: Essays in History and Social Anthropo- logy edited by Donald Donham and Wendy James 52 Islam and Urban Labor in Northern Nigeria: The Making of a Muslim Working Class Paul M. Lubeck 53 Horn and Crescent: Cultural Change and Traditional Islam on the East African Coast, 500-1900 Randall J. Pouwels 54 Capital and Labour on the Kimberley Diamond Fields 1871-1890 Robert Vicat Turrell 55 National and Class Conflict in the Horn of Africa John Markakis 56 Democracy and Prebendal Politics in Nigeria: The Rise and Fall of the Second Republic Richard A. Joseph 57 Entrepreneurs and Parasites: The Struggle for Indigenous Capitalism in Zaire Janet MacGaffey 58 The African Poor: A History John Iliffe PALM OIL AND PROTEST An Economic History of the Ngwa Region, South-Eastern Nigeria, 1800-1980 SUSAN M. MARTIN The right of the University of Cambridge to print and sell all manner of books was granted by Henry VIII in 1534. The University has printed and published continuously since 1584. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE NEW YORK NEW ROCHELLE MELBOURNE SYDNEY CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521343763 © Cambridge University Press 1988 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1988 This digitally printed first paperback version 2006 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Martin, Susan M. Palm oil and protest: an economic history of the Ngwa region, south-eastern Nigeria, 1800-1980 / Susan M. Martin. p. cm. - (African studies series: 59). Bibliography. Includes index. 1. Palm-oil industry — Nigeria — history — 20th century. 2. Igbo (African people). I. Title. II. Series. HD9490.5.P343N66 1988 87-17373 CIP 338.4'76643-dcl9. ISBN-13 978-0-521-34376-3 hardback ISBN-10 0-521-34376-3 hardback ISBN-13 978-0-521-02557-7 paperback ISBN-10 0-521-02557-5 paperback Contents page List of maps and figure vii Acknowledgements viii Abbreviations x 1 Introduction 1 2 Ecology, society and economic change to 1891 17 3 The Ngwa and colonial rule, 1891-1914 36 4 The expansion of the oil palm industry, 1884-1914 45 5 The end of the boom 56 6 Cassava and Christianity 67 7 Authority, justice and property rights 78 8 Trade, credit and mobility 90 9 Production and protest: the Women Riot, 1929 106 10 Cash cropping and economic change, 1930-80 119 11 Conclusion 137 Statistical appendix 1 Palm oil prices, Liverpool, 1879-1930 144 2 Palm kernel prices, Liverpool, 1888-1930 145 3 Lagos prices, palm oil and palm kernels; with U.K. wholesale price and Nigerian import price indices, 1911-48 146 4 Barter terms of trade for Nigerian cocoa, groundnuts and palm produce,1911-48 147 5 Volumes of cocoa, groundnuts and palm produce exported from Nigeria, 1900-48 148 6 Volumes of palm oil and palm kernels exported from Eastern, Western and Central Nigeria, 1906-48 150 Contents 7 Palm oil exports from selected ports of Eastern Nigeria, 1903-48 152 8 Palm kernel exports from selected ports of Eastern Nigeria, 1903-^8 153 9 Total quantities of palm produce, copra, coconut oil, groundnuts and cocoa entering world trade, 1909-13 and 1926-30 154 10 Income terms of trade for Nigerian cocoa, groundnut and palm producers, 1911-48 155 11 Population densities, Southern Nigeria, 1911-63 156 12 Opobo prices, palm oil, 1914-29 157 13 Opobo prices, palm kernels, 1914-29 158 14 Aba and Umuahia prices, palm oil, 1916-29 159 15 Aba and Umuahia prices, palm kernels, 1916-29 160 Notes 161 Interviews conducted in the Ngwa region, 1980-1 191 Bibliography 193 Index 204 VI Maps 1 Ports, river and rail trade routes, south-eastern Nigeria page 3 2 Ngwa-Ukwu (Ofo-Asato) village group 4 3 Rainfall zones, south-eastern Nigeria 19 4 The Ngwa: northern Village Groups and main routes of pre- colonial migrations 20 5 The Ngwa and their neighbours, 1930s 21 6 Markets and market-days, north-western Ngwa region, 1933 30 7 Population densities and flows of yams and migrants, south- eastern Nigeria, to 1938 91 8 Communications in the Ngwa region, 1910-35 96 9 Regional variations in palm oil production methods, south-eastern Nigeria, 1938 101 10 The Women Riot, 1929 115 Figure 1 Farmer's Calendar, south-eastern Nigeria, 1930s 24 vn Acknowledgements Among the many people who have helped in the preparation of this study, I would especially like to thank my supervisor, Professor A. G. Hopkins; and, in Nigeria, Dr E. J. Usoro, Drs Paul and Rina Okonkwo, and Mr G. G. Onyia, without whose help my fieldwork would have been impossible. Financial support for my first two years of research was provided by the S.S.R.C, and academic support during my stay in Nigeria was provided by the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan. My colleagues and students at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London have, over the past six years, provided me with rather more food for thought than can be reflected in this study; I would like to thank them, and my teachers and friends at Birmingham, especially Gareth Austin, Sue Hargreaves and Marion Johnson. I have also received many stimulating ideas, and some material support, from Professor A. E. Afigbo, Dr and Mrs I. O. Ako- bundu, Mrs Ify Anagbo, Dr S. Babayemi, Professor S. O. Biobaku, Mr A. F. B. Bridges, Mr K. H. Dickenson, Miss Ada Eneli, Dr A. Epelle, Dr J. I. Guyer, Dr C. Ifeka, Dr G. I. Jones, Dr A. J. H. Latham, Martin Lockett, Dr C. W. Newbury, Colleen and Dutch Newfield, Dr D. Northrup, Dr and Mrs A. Nwachuku, Mrs A. Nwokoye, Mrs C. Purisch, Dr and Mrs T. U. Torti and Dr B. N. Ukegbu. I would like to thank the librarians and archivists of all the collections on which I have worked, but especially Mr E. O. Unuigbe of the Nigerian National Archives, Ibadan, and Mr J. E. N. Nwaguru, Mr B. O. Nwaigwe, Cecilia Nwokoye and Innocent Udeh of the Nigerian National Archives, Enugu. Many members of the staff of the World Bank Smallholder Oil Palm Project expressed an interest in my research, and gave me a great deal of help during my stay in the Ngwa region: I would especially like to thank Mr Prince Cajetan Egbuka, and Mr Mba, Mr Ndukwu, Mr Lawrence Any a Njoku, Mr Dyke Ogbonnaya and Mr I.