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Agriculture and Industry: a Case-Study of Capitalist Failure in Northern Nigeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Rob Allen
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Extract

Discussion of industrial activity in capitalist Third-World countries has usually centred on a series of dualistic frameworks, most recently the opposition between the so-called ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ sectors of an economy. Such dichotomies attempt to divide the activities of labour as cleanly as possible into two groups sharing common characteristics. The categories that emerge – modern/traditional, large/small-scale, formal/informal – overlap to a considerable degree because, in effect, they all attempt, with varying crudity, to compare the socio-economic characteristics of those dominant capitalist enterprises which are based on intensive capital, high-level technology, and a large scale of production, with those activities in the economy which are not based on such features. As such, the second category tends to have both negative and residual components.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , September 1980 , pp. 427 - 441
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

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References

page 427 note 1 Bromley, Ray, ‘Introduction – the Urban Informal Sector: why is it worth discussing?’, in World Development (Oxford), VI, 9–10, 1978, pp. 1034–5.Google Scholar

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page 429 note 3 Long and Richardson, loc. cit. p. 204.

page 429 note 4 As with Nigeria generally, there is no reliable census data for the main cities and towns. An estimate of 150,000–200,000, though probably highly inaccurate, would give some sense of the size of Zaria.

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page 430 note 3 Cadbury Nigeria Limited was a private company owned by Cadbury Schweppes Overseas Limited. In 1976 it went public with 40 per cent of the equity going to Nigerians to conform with the Nigerian Enterprise Decree. At the end of 1978 Cadbury's own holding was reduced to 40 per cent.

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page 432 note 1 Quinn, J. G., ‘Prospects for a Tomato Paste Industry’, in Span (Derby), XVI, 1, 01 1973.Google Scholar

page 432 note 2 I would like to thank the project manager at Zaria, William Farley, who provided much of the available information; Ann Tobin, who was responsible for collecting the data; and the Board of Research at Ahmadu Bello University which funded the programme of which this study was a part.

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page 433 note 2 At that time the official exchange rate was ₦I (100 kobo) = £0·80, although the probably more realistic black market price was ₦I= £0·50.

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page 435 note 1 Ray Bromley and Chris Gerry, ‘Who Are the Casual Poor?’, in Bromley and Gerry (eds.), op.cit. p. 3.

page 436 note 1 The conversion figure, in theory, was 12 tons of fruit to one of paste. but in practice they were able to produce at a rate of 10·6:1.

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page 441 note 2 Gavin Williams, ‘Taking the Part of Peasants: rural development in Nigeria and Tanzania’, in Gutkind and Wallerstein (eds.), op. cit. p. 131.

page 441 note 3 During the early 1970s, another scheme was initiated at Gombe that involved plantations with excellent water supplies and large-scale mechanisation, wholly financed and organised by the North-East State. Since the farmers were salaried this gave the Government the sort of hold over them which Cadbury Nigeria had eventually sought. Ironically, the plant closed in 1974 due to management problems, alleged corruption, and contaminated water supplies, thus suggesting that control of the farmers is far from being the solution.

page 441 note 4 Gavin Williams, ‘Introduction’, in Williams (ed.), op. cit. p. 7.