Supplement to WORLD ECONOMIC REPORT, 1949-18 UN IT ED NAT I O ,NS • Review of ECONOMIC CONDITIONS in AFRICA REVIEW OF ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN AFRICA Supplement to World Economic Report, 1949-50 UNITED NATIONS DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS New York, March 1951 E/191O/Add.lIRev.1 ST/ECA/9/ Add.1 Apri11951 UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATIONS Sales No.: 1951.II.C.2 FOREWORD The Secretariat of the United Nations has prepared the present Review of Economic Conditions in Africa in response to resolution 266 (X) of the Economic and Social Council, which requests the Secretary-General "to include in the world economic report, to be prepared for the twelfth session of the Council, a special section relating to economic conditions in Africa, using material readily available and such further information as may be provided by the Governments concerned". This report, and its companion volume, the Review of Economic Conditions in the Middle East, are issued as separate sections of the World Economic Report, 1949-50; these volumes are intended to complement the regional surveys prepared annually by the secretariats of the United Nations economic commissions for Europe, for Asia and the Far East and for Latin America. The reports, in pre­ liminary form, were made available in February 1951 to the twelfth session of the Economic and Social Council. The Division of Economic Stability and Development of the Department of Economic Affairs, which is primarily responsible for the preparation of the present Review, wishes to acknowledge the assistance it has received from the Department of Trusteeship and Information from Non-Self-Governing Territories, from the Statistical Office of the United Nations and, in connexion with the statement on demographic matters, from the Population Division of the Department of Social Affairs. The following symbols and abbreviations have been used in the report: Two dots (..) Not available Dash (-) Nil or negligible Full stop (.) Indicates decimals Comma (,) Distinguishes thousands and millions Slash (I) Crop year, e.g., 1949/50 Hyphen (-) Annual average, e.g., 1934-38 "To" between certain years indicates the full period, e.g., 1947 to 1949 means 1947 to 1949, inclusive Minus sign (-) Deficit, e.g., in balance of payments tables. A blank space in a table indicates that the item is not applicable. References to "dollars" indicate United States dollars unless otherwise specified. Details and percentages in tables do not necessarily add to totals because of rounding. "Pre-war" usually refers to 1934-38 or to 1937. Unless otherwise specified, Egypt is not included in the totals for Africa~ .Readers will find information concerning rates of exchange in issues of the United Nations Monthly Bulletin of Statistics. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS IntroauctioD. Chapter Page 1. BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF AFRICAN ECONOMY ..' .... ,., ... , .. 0••••••••••• 3 Area and population ... 0 •••••••••••• 0 0 ••••• ' ••• , •••••••• ,•, ••••••••• 0 3 Levels of production and income 0 •••• , .' •••••• , " •••••• 0 •••• 0 • • • • • 4- Share in world trade and production 0 • , 0 ••••• 0 .' ••• 0 • " •••• ,••••••••••••• 7 Environmental factors 0 •• ' •••••• 0 ••••• 0 •••••• 0 •••••••••• , •••••••• , ••••• 7 Dual nature of economy. , .. 0 ••• 0 0 '••••••• •• • •• ,.,.,....... 9 Labour and land utilization .. ,', .. ",.,",, ,........ 11 Production and investment problems 0 , •• , , ••• ,•,••••• •• •••• 15 Summary .,........................................................ 16 Recent Economic Trends 2. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION 21 General features ...... , .0 ., , .. , .•.• , ", , , •.''• , .. " ., •••.••..•••• , ••...• 21 Pre-war and post-war production of selected commodities., .•..... , ..... , ... , 24- Grains: bread grains and coarse grains - rice " ... ....... .. .......... 25 Fats and oils , "...... 27 Sugar ., " ., .. ' .' '' , .. , o. ••••••• • ••• 28 Beverages: cacao - coffee - tea - wine ,, ,, ..• ',.. 30 Citrus fruits ..... , ... , . 0 " •• , •••••• , •• ,.' •••• ,', •••• ' ••••' ••• ,, •• ,•• 33 Fibres: cotton - wool- sisal .. , , '." , '" , , .' .. .. ... 33 Tobacco " , ' 0., ••• 0 •• 0 ••• ' •• , ,'" •• 36 Rubber ,' .' .. , " 0·· •,•" 0 ' ••• '.' '" , •••••• ,,• 36 Forestry and forest products 0 •• , 0 •• " .' .0 ••• 0 , 0 •••••• , •• , •• ,•••• 37 Livestock ., 0 • , ••••••••••••• 0· • 0 • , ," '. , ••••••••• 0 , 39 Consumption of agricultural requisites . 0 '0 ,•,, ... ,, •• ' , • 0 • , , .' 0 •••••••• , ', 39 3. MINING AND THE MINERAL AND METAL INDUSTRIES Attraction of external capital . 0 ••• 0 , , ., ,•" ••• ", ••••• ,•,,,, •••• ,," ••••• 41 Position in world production " .. , 0 •• ', .' •• 0 • ,. , ' , •• ' •••• , •••• , 41 Localization of production 0 • 0 , ••• ,,•, ' •••• '•• 41 Role in export trade and national income , " .. , '" , ',' "., .. ,.,.".,, 42 Pre-war and post-war production trends ,"."". ',' , , 43 Precious minerals: gold - diamonds .. ",,,".,, .. ,,.. 43 Iron ore. ,., ." .. ,,.,,, .. ,,'" '" 45 Principal non-ferrous metals: copper - tin -lead and zinc, ', .. ,,,, 47 Other metallic minerals: antimony - bauxite - chrome ore - cobalt - manganese ore - platinum-group metals - vanadium - tungsten·- uranium , ,.......................................... 50 Non~metallic minerals: asbestos - phosphate rock, .,,,, .. , .. , .... , ... ,,. 53 Chapter Page 4. FUEL AND POWER, IRON AND STEEL AND SECONDARY INDUSTRIES Fuel and power ' : ..... 55 Coal 55 Electric power 56 Oil 57 Iron and steel industry "......................... 58 Secondary industries 59 Union of South Africa ............................................ 60 Southern Rhodesia .................... .. ......................... 60 Belgian Congo 61 French Morocco ,......................... 61 5. TRANSPORTATION 63 Railway transportation ......... .. 63 Road transportation .................................................. 66 Maritime transportation ............................................... 69 Air transportation ,......................... 71 6. LABOUR Supply of labour .......................... .. ......................... 73 Skilled and unskilled labour 74 Migrant labour ........................... .. ......................... 74 Potential labour supply 76 Wages. ...................................................... 77 7. FOREIGN TRADE 84 Composition of exports and imports. .......... .. ......................... 87 Direction of trade ,......................... 93 Intra-African trade ,......................... 97 Balance of payments Union of South Africa ,......................... 97 Other countries 100 8. NOTE ON DEMOGRAPHIC ASPECTS ,....................... .. 102 Size, density and growth of population ........ .. ....................... .. 102 Age composition of the population. .......... .. ....................... .. 104 Growth of population by region .............. .. ....................... .. 104 Plans for Economic Development 9. GOVERNMENT PROGRAMMES Government-sponsored development plans 109 Inter-governmental co-operation .............. .. ....................... .. 116 General considerations .............................................. .. 117 vi List of Tables Page 1. Agricultural productivity, by continents and for the world, pre-war and 1947/48. 5 2. Average African and world yield of certain agricultural products, 1934-38 and 1947 or 1948 ........................... .. ......................... 6 3. Per capita supplies of major foodstuffs in certain countries ................... 22 4. Share of Africa in world agricultural output, pre-war and 1948 . .. ............ 24 5. Production of selected agricultural commodities, pre-war and 1947 to 1949. ..... 25 6. Export or import (-) surplus of visible fats and oils, pre-war, 1946, 1948 and 1949 27 7. Production of ground-nuts, 1934-38, 1947 and 1948 ................... 29 8. Production and exports of olive oil, French North Africa, 1934-38 and 1947 to 1949 29 9. Production of sugar, 1934-38 and 1947 to 1949. ........................... 29 10. Production of cacao, 1934-38 and 1947 to 1949. ......................... 31 11. Exports of coffee, 1934-38 and 1947 to 1949. .... 31 12. Production of tea, 1934-38 and 1947 to 1949. .. ........................ 32 13. Production of wine, 1934-38 and 1947 to 1949. .. ............ 32 14. Production of citrus fruits, 1934-38 and 1946 to 1948 ..................... 33 15. Production of cotton (ginned), 1934-38 and 1947 to 1949. .................. 33 16. Consumption of cotton, 1938/39, 1948/49 and 1949/50. .................. 34 17. Production, exports and consumption of wool, 1934-38 and 1947 to 1949. .... 35 18. Production of sisal, 1934-38 and 1947 to 1949. .. ......................... 35 19. Production of tobacco, 1934-38 and 1947 to 1949 ......................... 36 20. Imports of tractors and agricultural machinery from eight principal exporting countries, 1937 and 1947 to 1949. .... .. .......... .. .................... 40 21. Share of Africa in world production of selected minerals, by weight, 1937 and 1948 42 22. Share of mineral exports in total exports of selected countries, by value, 1937 and 1948 43 23. Production of selected minerals and metals, 1937 and 1947 to 1949. ............ 44 24. Production of gold, 1937 and 1947 to 1949. ... .. ......................... 45 25. Production of diamonds, 1937 and 1947 to 1949. ......................... 46 26. Production and iron content of iron ore, 1937 and 1947 to 1949. .. ............ 46 27. Production of copper ore, 1937 and 1947 to 1949. ....................... 47 28. Production of tin in concentrates, 1937 and 1947 to 1949. .................