At the turn of the century British manufacturers became anxious to develop alternative sources of cotton supply, preferably in British colonies, and in June 1902, the British Cotton Growing Association (BCGA) was formally inaugurated to give a lead in this direction.1 Many potential cotton growing areas made a first attempt at producing the crop about this time, and those colonies where cotton growing was already underway stepped up production. From that time Egypt rose to prominence as a supplier to the world of the highest quality cotton. India too felt the impulse towards bettering the yield and quality of its crop, and in Australia, Queensland's production of lint reached 1,000 tons in the late 1890's before fading away for another 50 years. The unsuccessful venture in Natal around this time relates to the same source of interest in the crop and was instrumental in bringing Cecil John Rhodes to Africa. Meantime, David Livingstone's accounts and travels in Central Africa, "were led to see Central Africa as a cotton-growing land that might make Lancashire independent on the United States of America. David Livingstone magnified sporadic patches of cotton into rich fields beyond the Americas best".2 The BCGA made efforts to make sure cotton was grown in many British colonies in Africa. Some false start in Rhodesia in 1903/04 came to little, and production in Ghana remained negligible but production in countries such as the Sudan, Uganda, Nigeria and Malawi began to make headway.
Zimbabwe was occupied by the British South Africa Company (BSAC) in 1890 in the hope of discovering intensive gold deposits.3 However, when the `Second Rand' failed to materialise, the company shifted emphasis from mining to agriculture in the latter part of the decade. D.J. Murray has rightly pointed out that "although not initially founded as a farming settlement, agriculture early came to be regarded as a major instrument for achieving the objectives intended for Southern Rhodesia".4 The main pursuits of the white settler farmers were maize, tobacco and beef but they were desirous of introducing other crops in order to enhance their economic interests. At the turn of the century the call of the mother country for cotton in British colonies in order to reduce dependence on the American crop had been voiced by the BCGA on behalf of the textile industry in Britain and had been heard and answers were being sought. Zimbabwe was therefore no exception. Cotton fitted well into the "White Agricultural Policy" although not without problems.
Early attempts at establishing cotton as a commercial crop in Zimbabwe were made right from the beginning of the twentieth century but with little success. British optimism in the country was largely due to the fact that cotton is `indigenous' to the country, an indigenous cotton plant having found earlier in the Zambezi Valley, and from it local Africans made excellent strings and sheets. Soon after the occupation of Southern Rhodesia, a sample of the indigenous cotton plant was sent to London for the opinion of the experts who replied favourably that "the `staple' is of good strength and if obtainable in sufficient quantities would be saleable at about the equivalent of American cotton. The class is much superior to what is known as East India Cotton".5 The BCGA therefore felt that this crop should receive attention and would repay cultivation.
In spite of this encouraging report, little interest appear to have been taken in cotton production by the settlers, mainly due to the fact that the crop had no local market and also due to processing problems. However, the very fact that cotton could be grown in the country impressed a BSAC official, Percy Inskipp, who, after submitting samples of the indigenous cotton to an expert in Manchester, admitted that "cotton growing in the country represented, an excellent opportunity for turning some of the country's resources to good account". He informed the Administrator accordingly.6 Inskipp raised 2,000 pounds privately in order to send an expert to Rhodesia to raise an experimental crop, and he requested the Administrator to supply transport for the expert, land for experimental purposes and more land for cotton planting should the experiments prove successful. Inskipp's efforts resulted in several favourable responses to the idea of putting up the cotton industry in Rhodesia.7 In 1902 he formed a company, the Rhodesia Cotton Syndicate, which conducted experiments with cotton near Hartley and Salisbury, as well as in Portuguese East Africa at Bamboo Creek. However, these experiments,though a partial success, were a complete commercial failure.
In another attempt to promote commercial cotton growing, the BCGA sent 40 tons of cotton seed from Egypt to Rhodesia in 1904. The seeds were distributed throughout the country, and Africans in various districts were encouraged to sow from 50 to 100 acres of cotton. Native Commissioners were urged to use every endeavour to get some planting done by Africans and incentives such as bonuses were offered to officials who succeeded in inducing Africans in their districts to undertake cotton growing on a commercial scale.8 At the same time that seeds were being sent to Rhodesia, J.F. Jones, the Manager and also Secretary of the BSAC, forwarded pamphlets "in a simple and elementary form instructions on cotton cultivation", and he instructed that "a copy of the pamphlet must be sent to every Native Commissioner to whom the seed is supplied". However, the results of this country-wide experiment were not encouraging. The unfavourable season as well as the fact that the seeds had been sent late militated against the success of the experiment.9 By the end of the decade no headway had been made with cotton experiments. This led the Secretary for Agriculture to conclude that, "All hope of getting this crop taken up must be abandoned for the present".10
Cotton growing seems to have continued on a small scale in some districts of the country, particularly in Hartley district where farmers continued to show interest in the crop. J.W. Cutler of Chigwell Farm in Hartley, conducted systematic experiments with cotton from 1910 to 1913 but, after repeated failure, came to the conclusion that, "the Hartley district is not suitable for cotton cultivation".11 Cotton was also a failure at the Salisbury Experimental Station, and in co-operatives farmers' trials in 1911 and 1912.12
New efforts to commercialize cotton growing were again started in the last half of the second decade in order to revive interest in the crop. Even at that time, Britain was largely dependent on the American crop for its mills, and was certainly the largest importer of the American crop.13 Britain required annually some three and half million bales of cotton to keep pace with the demand of the cotton spinners and, of this amount, the United States was supplying some 80 percent. The partial failure of the American crop in 1909 and 1910 due to a bad season and bollweevil ravages, with a consequent rise in price of raw cotton had again brought this subject much before the notice of the public. In addition, during and subsequent to the First World War, Britain had already realised the futility of her heavy dependency on supplies from the United States of America. Owing in part to the necessity of growing more food stuffs to meet the war needs, the cotton crop in India, Egypt and the United States of America had been curtailed. the advent of peace had in no way changed the situation. Due to the increasing capacity of the American mills to absorb their own crop, prices of raw cotton sold to Britain on the Liverpool market had been raised. Production cost in United States of America had also increased.14
The British Empire was the only hope of salvaging the tottering industry and, as part of a wartime attempt to `develop' the Empire, Britain issued a request for its colonies to put more effort into growing cotton. The request was institutionalized in the Empire Cotton Growing Committee which was appointed to, "investigate the best means of developing the frowning of cotton within the Empire and to advise the government as to the necessary means to be taken for this purpose".15 The Committee came out with a number of findings some of which were that the British Empire could grow the quantity of cotton that it required and that cotton growing could bring prosperity to the places suited to it.16
With regard to Rhodesia the Committee reported that the country possessed possibilities for further development which could prove valuable later on.17 It also recommended that the addition of cotton experts to the Agricultural Department was essential before progress could be expected. Thus, in 1918, H.W. Taylor was appointed to the Department as Tobacco and Cotton Specialist.18 In 1919 trials were conducted on 91 farms in twelve districts on a total area of 1,000 acres. The results obtained varied from absolute failure in some cases to satisfactory yields in other. The quality of lint produced was, however, favourably reported upon by brokers and manufacturers in Britain. Some the farmers wished to continue growing cotton especially on account of the low price of maize but were discouraged by the difficulty in marketing the crop. The BCGA offered prices to successful cotton growers and supplied two gins and a cotton press which were erected by Farmers' Co-operative Society in Salisbury. The whole of the 1919/1920 crop was sold locally at 6d per lb for industrial purposes.
On the whole then cotton was a disappointment for most farmers during the period of Company rule. Several reasons have been given for this failure. According to E. Nobbs, the Director of Agriculture, attempts at growing cotton came to nothing due to "too high an altitude, unsuitable varieties, unfavourable climatic conditions and adoption of incorrect cultural practices".19 Max Danziger added weight to the above when he asserted that, "from 1903 to 1923 sporadic attempts were made to grow cotton but transport difficulties, low price, lack of knowledge and organisation always led to failure".20 H. Weinmann's verdict for the period 1903 to 1923 can thus be accepted when he stated that "the story of cotton research and production in Rhodesia during the time of the BSAC rule (was) one of disappointment and failures".21
Although early attempts of establishing cotton as a commercial crop in Rhodesia made since the beginning of the century had been unsuccessful, interest in the crop was revived in 1923 largely "as the result of propaganda of the Empire Cotton Growing Corporation as well as the high prices ruling the world market at that time".22 1923 may be taken as the first time when `serious' cotton growing was attempted on a country-wide scale. That year nearly four thousand acres of Improved Bancroft were cultivated yielding moderately well.23 Commenting on the favourable set of circumstances that had given cotton a boost, Danziger noted that, "in 1923/24 high prices for cotton caused a boom wherever cotton could be grown. This boom was world wide and not by any means confined to Rhodesia".24 The Official Year Book also stated that:
The recent high prices of cotton have encouraged farmers to again undertake cotton growing and the acreage planted during 1923 is estimated at 3,000 acres for the several districts. Previously the crop has only been grown experimentally, but in suitable areas farmers are now growing cotton on a commercial scale.25
In that year, that is, in 1923, the ruling prices for cotton were high while those of maize were very low and, as maize was the chief agricultural product of the country, it was natural that farmers turned hopefully to cotton as an alternative crop or one which fitted into a rotation with maize.26 Largely as a result of the success of the 1923/24 crop, the editor of the Rhodesia Agricultural Journal was able to comment that,
There is evidence of an enhanced interest in cotton growing, and indeed all the indications seem to point to a Rhodesian cotton boom. There is no doubt that cotton is a profitable crop at present prices, particularly in this country, where the worst cotton insect pests do not exist, where over large areas the climatic conditions are ideal, and where there is usually plenty of cheap labour of the type required for picking. If the hopes of the enthusiasts are realised, cotton promises to be one of the most important of the agricultural products of the colony.27
The 1923/24 cotton crop had been so successful that farmers looked upon the cotton industry as already established as a result of this initial success which had seen the crop fetch a handsome sum of 46,000 pounds, a period of `rapid' expansion followed.28 In the following season 60,000 acres were planted with cotton. The Cotton Country noted that, "the get-rich-quick atmosphere swept not only established farmers into its vortex, but miners, mechanics, businessmen, speculators of all strata of financial ability and conscience".29 Major G.S. Cameroon, the Cotton Specialist based at Gatooma Research Station, endorsed the above idea when he also reported that, "the farmers were not the only ones who went astray on the occasion, administrators, officials and even hard headed men of commerce were swept off their feet at that time, not only in Southern Rhodesia, but wherever cotton growing showed the faintest promise of success outside as well as inside the Empire".30 Of the several factors which precipitated the cotton boom in the country, according to Cameroon,the price factor was the most important.31
In addition to the price factor was the propaganda campaign instituted by the ECGC. According to the propaganda, cotton, if it can be grown successfully, "offers the farmer not only a fair profit but supplies him with a readily marketable crop in rotation with maize whereas other crops have to be fed to stock before they can be converted into a saleable commodity or have laboriously to be prepared for market as in the case of tobacco and maize".32 The propaganda left no stone unturned in convincing the farmer of the viability of cotton. Thus, "once packed and sent away, the farmer need do no more to his crop, the sphere of the ginnery and the ultimate destiny of the article being beyond his leen".33
In the 1924/25 and 1925/26 seasons over 60,000 acres were planted with cotton, and the number of cotton growers increased from 313 in 1923/24 to 1,306 in 1925/26.34 However, 1924/25 and 1925/26 were not successful seasons with cotton. Low yields combined with a drop in the cotton market gave the farmers such a poor return for their efforts that cotton growing fell into disfavour. This state of affairs was no doubt accelerated by the prominence to which flue-cured tobacco attained.35 In addition,the crop also failed due to an insect pest, jassid, which practically brought cotton growing to a standstill.
This downward trend in cotton production continued into the Great Depression of the late 1920's and early 1930's which brought in an economic blizzard that swept the world. According to T.G. Hesse, "prices have provided the disappointment for the season,they have been disastrous. The world has been caught in the maelstrom of an economic cataclysm". Hesse pointed out that the immediate cause of the debacle was the break of, "a prolonged period of advancing prices on the New York Exchange and a slump of extreme severity".36 Markets the world over were affected and the demoralisation spread to the commodity markets. Cotton suffered with the rest, and was marked down to well below pre-war prices.
A Committee of Enquiry was set up to find the best methods of combating the onslaught.37 The Committee which was chaired by Maz Danzinger, the Minister of Finance and Supply, recommended government intervention in all the principal agricultural products. Prices of raw cotton continued to go down. Around October and November 1930,the price stood at 9 1.2 d per lb. but, early 1931,the price dropped to 6d per lb. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the American cotton prices were controlled and a bounty paid for the exported cotton which was being thrown into an already burdened market.38
The most affected agricultural commodities were tobacco, maize and beef which only survived as a result of state intervention in the early to mid-thirties. Maize prices were controlled, tobacco received imperial preference on the British market and cattle had a bounty to help the industry in the export of surplus beasts.39 On the other hand, in the words of Cameroon, Cotton "is about the only crop in the country which is sold on the world market without the aid or indirect forms of subsidy such as preferences, controls and bounties".40 As long as maize, tobacco and beef remained `profitable' through these artificial subsidies, not much attention was given to cotton. Therefore, unassisted by any subsidies, the cotton crop faced sharp competition from other industries that received state assistance. Cameroon thought that this was all for the good of the crop because, "once it becomes firmly established as undoubtfully it will, it will have done so entirely on its own merit".41
However, although the artificial bolstering up of maize, tobacco and beef during the depression made farmers not likely to take to alternative crops, the majority of them realised that these industries were resting on unsure and insecure foundations. The fact that cotton was not assisted during the depression was an added advantage to the industry since this state of affairs tended "to give it greater stability in the long run".42 This is what happened in the years after the depression, especially after the depression, particularly after 1936 when the Cotton Research and Industry Board was formed.
A.N. Prentice is right in stating that,
Cotton is the crop which more than any other has introduced the African peasant to a cash economy,and has thus for better or for worse opened completely new visits to whole nations of Africa.43
Over vast areas of Africa, not only in the British but equally in those territories where the historical influence has been French, Belgian and Portuguese, "it is cotton which is the basis of the new way of life", for the African.44
As pointed out earlier on, cotton is `indigenous' to Zimbabwe and the cotton industry was well developed among some African societies long before the Europeans arrival. It was partly on this basis that cotton growing was extended to the Africans. The extension of cotton-growing to the Africans was generally designed to speed up rural incorporation into the colonial economy.45 From the point of view of white settlers, it was necessary to harness the rural economy to European capitalism.46 It was with such views that cotton cultivation was forced on the Africans in Belgian Congo in the 1920's,47 and in Mozambique from the 1930's onwards.48 In Rhodesia cotton cultivation was instead encouraged rather than forced among the Africans right from the beginning of the century. The crop was introduced to the Africans as early as 1904 as the Native Commissioner for Sinoia indicate
I would draw your attention to the fact that in 1904/05 cotton seed was distributed to the natives, accompanied by glowing descriptions of the profits which would accrue from its growth. The seed was planted wisely and quite a quantity of cotton was grown.49
However, the price which was offered the Africans was infinitesimal so the industry was killed.50 The Secretary for Agriculture also reported in 1904 that:
An attempt is also being made to induce natives to cultivate cotton, and all the assistance possible in the matter of seed and advice will be given to them. Once they can be induced to take up the cultivation, the future of this crop on a large scale should be assured, for the difficulty of labour will not exist with the native planter, who will, always be able to get plenty of assistance from neighbouring kraals.51
Native Commissioners were in 1904 urged to use every endeavour to get some planting done by Africans in their respective districts, and "houses might be offered to officials who succeed in inducing natives in their districts to undertake cotton growing on a commercial scale."52 It was proposed that Africans in different districts should sow from 50 to 100 acres with cotton that year. J. Jones advised Townsend that, "provided sufficient inducements can be offered to the natives whereby remunerative results of their labour are assured, the prospects of an enormous and profitable commercial enterprise for the credit and the benefit of Rhodesia are unlimited".53 Cotton growing was regarded by the authorities as, "a very ready and simple means by which to procure the money necessary for payment of their [Africans] annual hut-tax and the purchase of such calico and other articles as they require".54 And yet there were insufficient inducements to attract Africans to grow cotton as Jones indicate
The price of 1d. a 1b. for cotton lint as suggested was considered insufficient to induce the native to plant it, as they can rely on getting for mealies and grain, they would probably be unwilling to plant cotton.55
In addition to the price factor, the period 1890 to about 1908 was what R. Palmer has described as, "the era of peasant prosperity", a period in which the Africans found comfort in growing maize and other foodstuffs which realised more profit than cotton.56 During this period, Africans could also raise money for taxes by selling their stock. After 1908 however things began to change. The "White Agricultural Policy" adopted by the settlers witnessed positive changes in settler agriculture in Rhodesia. Europeans began to challenge Africans for markets in foodstuffs and livestock.
Meanwhile the BSAC continued with its efforts to encourage Africans to grow cotton as the following indicates:
One hope of getting cotton cultivated on a commercial scale lies in trying to induce the natives in the more favourably situated districts, such as Mafungabusi, Lomagundi, Tuli and Victoria, to take up its cultivation. Seed will be again distributed to natives for the coming season and it is hoped that we shall have a more favourable season and that under better conditions success will be attained which will encourage them to go in for cotton.57
However, all early efforts to induce Africans to grow cotton at a commercial scale had faltered but hope was never really lost. Encouraged by the prices ruling on the world market efforts were again made in 1923 to induce Africans to grow the crop. In that year the CNC stated that, "it is in the interest of this country to get the natives interested in cotton growing".58
Native Commissioners(NCs) in various districts reported on the suitability or other-wise of their districts to cotton growing. Thus the NC for Chiweshe reported that cotton was the only crop that could be grown in the Dande area for profit and that no other crop would be sufficiently valuable to stand the cost of head transport over such a long distance. The establishment of the cotton growing industry, according to him, would be the best way of developing the Africans and the country generally.59 The NC for Zaka responded that the greater part of the Ndanga Reserve was low-lying and free from frost and had the added advantage of an adequate rainfall in normal years and that it was the ideal country for cotton growing. "In the interest of the natives and the empire as a whole, it is desirable that a considerable acreage should be put under cotton cultivation in the reserves by the natives under some scheme of co-operation and guidance of the NC",60 he added. The profits derived there from would be applied to the erection and upkeep of dipping tanks and the purchase of an improved class of bulls, rams, etc.61
The NC for Zaka went further to give suggestions of what best could be done to encourage cotton growing by Africans:
I think that we should make the natives engage on the work some definite and business like offer to induce them to bring their ploughs and cultivate the ground, and get their women and children to pick the crop. If the CNC will authorise me to make the following offer to natives, I feel sure that cotton growing amongst natives will prove a success in the district: a. that for the present the cultivation of cotton be by cooperation amongst natives interested under the supervision and guidance of the NC, b. that each shall contribute an equal share of the labour necessary for the growing and picking of the crop and other incidental expenses after it has been reaped and that the difference between the amount realised for this crop and the expenses incurred by the Government will be equally divided amongst the natives co-operating.62
The NC for Sinoia on the other hand expressed concern and disappointment at what he called lack of response by Africans to the encouragement to grow cotton. He emphasized that Africans would not attempt to grow any new crop unless they were assured that their efforts would bring considerably greater profits than the crops they usually grew.63
Efforts to foster cotton growing among the Africans were however not unopposed. There were some white settlers who did not favour this new move. Among these was Mr. Peake who asked the Minister of Native Affairs of "the advisability or otherwise of encouraging the native to grow cotton" which, he contended, "was asking for trouble".64 The Minister replied that he, "did not think it would be wise for the government to encourage the natives to grow cotton if it were going to endanger the industry of the white growers".65 The CNC was of the opinion that, "it would be to the interest of the natives and of the colony that the cultivation of cotton in the reserves should be encouraged", and he wanted to know "in what respect the growing of cotton by natives would endanger the industry of the whites".66 Major Cameroon pointed out that, "native grown cotton does not compete with, but is complimentary to the cotton grown by Europeans".67 This tended to array the fears of those who were concerned about African competition.
New crops were however always viewed as a risky undertaking and, being no food crop, cotton competed with maize and other food crops. E. Nobbs thought that Africans could only take up cotton seriously after the white man had attained success in the crop.68 However, in spite of the repeated failure to encourage Africans to grow it, cotton was gradually accepted into the agricultural scheme by some Africans.
At a meeting held in May 1933, the CNC, Col. C.L. Corbutt, stated that they had met "as a result of representations made to him as to the desirability of making a definite move to encourage cotton growing by natives in reserves and in native areas".69 The Minister of Native Affairs pointed out at this meeting that he favoured the policy of, "encouraging the step, provided the cotton authorities were satisfied that there would be no danger from native growing cotton crops to any potential future industry".70 The CNC foresaw difficulties in inducing the Africans to take up the crop "unless minimum price could be guaranteed, and that if a minimum price were guaranteed, such price would have to be fixed with the utmost care for if any figure under the guaranteed minimum were realised it would have a disastrous effect on any subsequent efforts to encourage the growing of cotton".71 Major Cameroon was probably right to suggest that, "the knowledge gained since the early misfortunes with cotton warranted a fresh effort to induce the natives to take up cotton growing in suitable localities". He further suggested that, "to begin with only small areas (say one or two acres) in two or three suitable neighbourhoods should be put under the crop".72 According to Major Cameroon, "Native cotton growing need not conflict with European cotton growing interest". After further discussion, it was generally agreed that the safest course to follow in the "Native Reserves" was to have one or two experimental crops planted on demonstration plots in charge of `Native Demonstrators' in one or more suitable reserves. It was felt that by this means a successful experiment could be brought to the notice of a larger number of Africans in the neighbourhood while, "should the experiment in any particular locality prove a failure, the fact would not be spread abroad and little or no discouragement would result".73 In `Native Areas' it was agreed that two or three `progressive' Africans in suitable areas would be encouraged to make the experiment on an acre or two of land. Cameroon indicated that growers had to be advised to transport their crop to the nearest railway station and consign there from Bindura Ginnery. The Ginnery had to pay all railage, the grower paying only charges to the station. All agreed that the matter would be undertaken very cautiously and on a small scale for the first years at least.74
Consequently in 1935/36, about 21 Africans from the Mairangwe, Shiota, Bushu, Sipolilo and Mrewa reserves grew cotton on small plots varying from a quarter of an acre to an acre. Results showed that the yields varied from very good to a few failures.75 The table below shows the quantity of cotton which found its way to the Bindura Ginnery from the Reserves which had grown it.
______________________________________________________________________________
| |
|Reserve Quantity bought Paid Value in Cash |
| in lbs. net in Pounds |
|_______________________________________________________________________________
| Bushu 1,476 5 12s. 0d |
| Marrirangwe 810 3 13 6 |
| Sipolilo 995 4 10 3 |
| Sinoia 2,034 8 7 9 |
| Mrewa 419 2 1 3 |
|_____________________________________________________________________________
Source: BINDURA GINNERY - STATISTICS, 1936, African Grown Cotton p.10
From then onwards more effort was put to induce more Africans to take up the cotton crop. This was made possible because of the activities of the CRIB which was set up in 1936. Propaganda campaigns were launched and pamphlets written in Shona and Ndebele were distributed to the Africans.76 The commitment of the CRIB is best summed up: "while in the past there were considerable difficulties in the way of fostering cotton growing as a native industry, the organisation now at the disposal of the Board allow this task to be undertaken as a serious and sustained branch of its activities".77 Production figures of African grown cotton during the period of the CRIB show a general upward trend.78
The period from 1903 to 1935 was one in which the white settler farmers, with the encouragement and assistance of the British and the Rhodesian (BSAC) and Southern Rhodesian governments attempted to establish the cotton industry in the country. The years, 1903 to 1923, were largely of experimentation with the new crop and the repeated failures suffered with the crop during this period just indicated the problems that had to be overcome before the cotton industry could be established on a commercial basis. However, the 1923/24 season experienced a "cotton boom" which saw renewed efforts being ejected by all parties concerned in a bid to see the industry established on a permanent footing. Such renewed efforts were well manifested in the establishment of the Gatooma Research Station in 1925. The station was manned by determined and experienced personnel headed by Major Cameroon. The personnel's research findings were able to identify the main causes of past failures of the cotton crop - the jassid insect.
By breeding new cotton varieties a new jassid resistant variety, U.4., was found, and it looked as if the major obstacle to the successful establishment of the cotton industry had been removed. The success of this new variety did not live long due to the unfavourable effects of the Great Depression which adversely affected not only the cotton industry but the whole agricultural industry of the colony. It was not until the inauguration of the Cotton Research and Industry Board in 1936 that the cotton industry began to be established on a permanent basis.
The Africans on the other hand made their contribution to the establishment of the industry. Largely, through colonial propaganda and encouragement and partly through their own initiative they took to the crop gradually. Again it was not until 1936 that they took to the crop seriously as Appendix B shows.
1. The formation of the BCGA was a result of the outcome of the growing recognition of the need to diversify the sources of supply of cotton. The Association represented various bodies interested in the cotton industry, and its first president was Sir Alfred Jones, the West African shipping magnate. The person of the president was significant because it was in West Africa that the association put its hopes of developing.
2. A.N. Prentice, Cotton with Special reference to Africa. London, Longaman, 1972. 13.
3. I.R. Phimister, "History of Mining in Southern Rhodesia to 1953", (University of Rhodesia, D. Phil, thesis, 1975), 139.
4. P.J. Murray, The Governmental System in Southern Rhodesia. (Oxford, Claredon Press, 1970), 59.
5. The Rhodesia Cotton Growers' Association. Cotton Country (Salisbury, Rhodesia Cotton Growers' Association, 1976), 34.
6. A11/2/2/9, P. Inskipp to W.H. Milton, 8 September 1902.
7. For example (a) A partner of Paton MacLaren, one of the biggest cotton firms in Liverpool arranged to transfer to Rhodesia an expert planter. The man was in Cairo. (b) The BCGA assured Inskipp that it had a good man in Egypt who would be seconded to Rhodesia. However, the expert refused to leave Egypt for Rhodesia. M.J. Oppenehimer, whose firm was at the back of all Egyptian government finance, had also taken interest in the cotton industry in Rhodesia and was giving Inskipp an introduction to H.H. Hussein Pasha, the Kedive's uncle, who they thought would gladly assist any enterprise with, which the BCGA was associated; (d) J.L. Stinson of the Mississippi Agricultural College in the USA was also engaged to superintend experiments in cotton planting on behalf of the Rhodesia Cotton Syndicate. Source A11/2/2/9.
8. A11/22/2, Milton to J. Jones, 16 November, 1904.
9. Ibid., Jones to Townsend, 15 October, 1904.
10. Southern Rhodesia Department of Agriculture Report for the Year 1907, 11.
11. Ibid., 1911.
12. Ibid., 1911 and 1913.
13. R.H.B. Dickson, "Suggestions for Cotton Growers", Rhodesia Agricultural Journal, VIII, 1911, 563-64.
14. For instance the cost of production in the USA was 4d. per 1b. in 1914 but four years later the price had almost trebled. H.W. Taylor, "Cotton Culture" Rhodesia Agricultural Journal, XVII, 1920, 436.
15. Rhodesia Agricultural Journal, 1920, 109.
16. Ibid.
17. Editorial, "Cotton Growing in Rhodesia", Rhodesia Agricultural Journal, XVII, 1920, 109.
18. Ibid.
19. Southern Rhodesia Official Year Book No. 1, 1924.
20. Southern Rhodesia Legislative Assembly Debates, XXII, 27 April to 26 June, 27 October to 6 November, 1942.
21. H. Weinniann, Agricultural Research and Development in Southern Rhodesia, 1890-1923. (Salisbury, University of Rhodesia, Department of Agriculture, Occasional Paper No. 2, 1975, 68.
22. Ibid.
23. Southern Rhodesia Official Year Book No. 4, 1957, 396.
24. Legislative Assembly Debates. 27 October to 6 November 1942.
25. Official Year Book, 1924, 134.
26. Official Year Book, 1952, 396.
27. Ibid.
28. "Cotton Editorial", Rhodesia Agricultural Journal, XXI, 1924, 244.
29. Cotton Country, 34.
30. G.S. Cameroon, "Some aspects of the Promotion of Cotton Growing in Southern Rhodesia" Empire Cotton Growing Review, XIV, 1937, 251.
31. Ibid.
32. E.A. Nobbs, "S. Rhodesia: with Special Reference to the Prospects for Cotton", Rhodesia Agricultural Journal, XXII, 1925, 352-54.
33. Ibid.
34. S1193/C5/1
35. Official Year Book, 1930, 345.
36. T.G. Hesse, "Marketing of the 1930 Cotton Crop", Rhodesia Agricultural Journal, XXVII, 1930, 1173.
37. Southern Rhodesia Report on the Committee of Enquiry into the Economic Position of the Agricultural Industry of Southern Rhodesia, 1934.
38. Legislative Assembly Debates, 27 October to 6 November 1942, 2069.
39. Maize prices were controlled by the Maize Control Act of 1931, tobacco received imperial preference on the British market and cattle hand a bounty.
40. Cameroon, "Cotton in Southern Rhodesia", Empire Cotton Growing, XI, 1934, 98.
41. Ibid.
42. Cameroon, "Some Aspects of the Promotion of Cotton Growing in S. Rhodesia", ECGR, XIV, 1937, 24.
43. Prentice, Op.cit. p.v. of peace.
44. Ibid.
45. B. Jewsiewicki, "Rural Society and the Belgian Colonial Economy", in D. Birmingham and P. Martin, (eds.), History of Central Africa, Vol. 2 99.
46. Ibid.
47. For further information see B. Jewsiewicki, Op.cit.
48. For further information see L. Vail and L. White, Capitalism and Colonialism in Mozambique: A Study of Queliman District, London, Heinemann, 1980; A. Issacman, "Chiefs, rural differentiation and peasant protest: the Mozambican forced cotton regime, 1938-1961", African Economic History, 14, 1985.
49. S138/189B: NC Sinoia to the Superintendent of Natives, Salisbury, 27 November 1923.
50. Ibid.
51. S. Rhodesia Department of Agriculture Annual Report for the Year 1904, 10.
52. A11/2/2/9, Milton to Jones 16 November 1904.
53. Ibid.
54. Extracts from Report on the British Central African Protectorate 1903-04 presented to Parliament, September 1904.
55. See R. Palmer "The Agricultural History of Rhodesia", in R. Palmer and N. Parsons (eds) The Roots of Rural Poverty in Central and Southern africa, (London, Heinmann, 1977).
56. S. Rhodesia Department of Agriculture Annual Report for 1909.
57. S138/189B, CNC Mashonaland to Secretary for Agriculture, 11 July, 1923.
58. Ibid., Acting NC Chiweshe to Supt. of Natives, Salisbury, 1 June, 1923.
59. Ibid.
60. Ibid. NC Zaka to the Supt. of Natives Ft. Victoria, 18 Sept, 1924.
61. Ibid., NC Zaka to Supt. of Natives 24 October 1924.
62. Ibid., CNC Mashonaland to Director of Agriculture, 29 November, 1923.
63. Ibid., Cutting from The Rhodesia Herald, 16 August, 1924. Meeting of the Rhodesia Cotton Growers Association.
64. Ibid.
65. Ibid., CNC to Secretary to the Prime Minister, 19 August 1924.
66. Ibid., NC to Superintendent of Natives, 27 November, 1923.
67. E. Nobbs, (retired Director of Agriculture) "Southern Rhodesia with special reference to the prospects for cotton", Rhodesia Agricultural Journal, XXII, 1925, 353.
68. S482/166/11/48 Meeting held in the Native Land Board Room, Salisbury, 29 May, 1933.
69. Ibid.
70. Ibid.
71. Ibid.
72. Ibid.
73. Ibid.
74. Cotton Research and Industry Board Report for the Period Ending 31 March, 1937, 3.
75. CRIB Report for the period ending 31 March, 1938, 3.
76. Ibid.
77. Ibid.
78. Cotton Country, 34.