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Ghana, 1951–78: the Agrarian Basis of the Post-colonial State

In: Rural Development in Tropical Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Bjorn Beckman

Abstract

The colonial state created and maintained the preconditions for incorporating West African agricultural producers into the world capitalist economy. The primary effect was the establishment of large numbers of peasants producing for export. The hinterlands were transformed into labour reserves for the export economy. Nowhere was this process more thorough than in Ghana. By the mid-twentieth century one-third of the agricultural producers in this country were directly involved in the cocoa economy, including a large labour force drawn from the northern savannah and from neighbouring countries. The cocoa economy supported the growth of an urban and rural commercial population as well as the development of commercial food crop production. The basic structure of this peasant-based economy had been established already before the First World War, including the present levels of technology and productivity (Szerszewski, 1965; Beckman, 1976a, chap 2).

Suggested Citation

  • Bjorn Beckman, 1981. "Ghana, 1951–78: the Agrarian Basis of the Post-colonial State," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Judith Heyer & Pepe Roberts & Gavin Williams (ed.), Rural Development in Tropical Africa, chapter 6, pages 143-167, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-349-05318-6_6
    DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-05318-6_6
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