.~~' q. ;:-‘V"' . v In] PLACE IN RETURN BOX to remove this checkout from your record. TO AVOID FINES return on or before date due. MAY BE RECALLED with earlier due date if requested. DATE DUE DATE DUE DATE DUE 5/08 K:lProj/Acc&Pres/CIRCIDateDue.indd DEPENDENCY THEORY AND DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS: AN ASSESSMENT OF SAMIR AMIN'S VIEHS By EThadji Amadou None PLAN 8 PAPER Submitted to Michigan State University in partia] fulfiilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Department of Agriculturai Economics 1981 DEPENDENCY THEORY AND DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS: AN ASSESSMENT OF SAMIR AMIN'S VIEWS By Elhadji Amadou Hone PLAN 8 PAPER Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements far the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Department of Agricultural Economics 1981 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE LIST OF TABLES ........................ iii LIST OF FIGURES ....................... iv CHAPTER INTRODUCTION .................... 1 I. THE ORIGINS OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT ........... 5 A. Transition from Pre-Capitalist Formations . to the Peripheral Capitalism ......... 5 3. Development of Underdevelopment . . ._ ...... 11 II. HISTORY OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT AND AGRICULTURAL STAGNATION IN AFRICA ....... . ......... 15 A. The Mercantilist Slave Trade .......... 15 B. Integration into the World Capitalist System .................... 16 III. TRANSFORMING THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR: SIX MAIN ISSUES ..................... 18 A. Relationship Between the Agricultural and Industrial Sectors .............. 18 B. Types of Agricultural Production Systems . . . . 29 C. Trade Off Between Food Crop and Cash Crop . . . . 31 D. Marketing .................... 34 E. Rural to Urban Migration ............ 38 F. International Migration ............. 40 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ............... 47 APPENDIX A: The Senegalese Food Self-Sufficiency Strategy . . 52 APPENDIX 8: Migration in West Africa ............ 56 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................... 61 ii TABLE 3.1 LIST OF TABLES Projected Output, Employment, and Income Impacts of a 35,000 Acre Rice Production Campaign in Northern Ghana: Small Farm vs. Large Farm ..... Producer Income Distribution Implications of a 35,000 Acre Rice Production Campaign in Northern Ghana: Small Farm vs. Large Farm Approach ..... Income Distribution Implications of a 35,000 Acre Rice Production Campaign for Casual Workers in Northern Ghana: Small Farm vs. Large Farm Approach ...................... Horkers' Remittances in Selected West African Countries, 1970-74 ................. Projected Production by Regions . . . ....... Projected Daily Consumption per Capita in Cereals Demographic IndiCators of Nine Nest African Countries ..................... Employed Immigrants Aged Fifteen Years and Over by Country of Residence and Sex, Circa 1975 . . . . Net Migration Estimate, Circa 1965-75 ....... PAGE 25 26 ' 27 44 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE . PAGE 3.1 An Illustration of Principal Components in a Diagnostic Study Of Agricultural Production - Distribution Systems ................. 37 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my deep appreciation and sincere gratitude to Dr. Carl K. Eicher, my major professor, for his inspiration, encourage- ment and guidance throughout my graduate program. I would also thank the members of my Guidance Committee: Drs. Harold Riley and Kenneth Boyer. Thanks are also due to Tom Zalla, my temporary adviser, for his advice and constant availability. To Lucy Wells and Patricia Eisele I express my gratitude for typing my first draft. And a special note of appreciation to Lucy for her good nature. INTRODUCTION Dependency and neo-Marxist theorists have exerted a substantial impact upon development economics. Western development analysts are becoming more aware of the important role that social groups and their political struggles play in the development process. However, con- troversy over some key issues of world development rages between the neo-Marxist and dependency theorists and neoclassical economists. A chief element in this controversy is a conviction among dependency theorists that development in backward areas is related through the inter- national market to the developed countries and is "blocked“ because of its integration into the world capitalist system. Moreover, this integration is hypothesized to lead to the underdevelopment of Third World societies. . Dependency theorists contend that because of the introduction of capitalism from outside, Third World economies are weak and national business groups in these countries are unable to launch and sustain industrialization. Furthermore, they argue that relations between developed countries and underdeveloped nations are relations of dependence. Dependence is defined as "a situation in which the econ- omy of certain countries is conditioned by development and expansion of another economy to which the fbrmer is subjected." [Dos Santos, 1970:p.231]. 2 In this dependency paradigm, an analysis at the world level is conducted in terms of two categories, center and periphery. Amin (1976) contends that a world level analysis is necessary, because the social structure of the periphery is a"truncated structure that can only be understood when it is situated as an element in'a world social struc- ture." [p. 294]. The concept of periphery-center was introduced by the Argentine Raul Prebish in the 50's, fbllowed by Myrdal,1 Frank, Cardoso, Hinkelammert, Dos Santos, Amin, de Janvry, and a number of others. The center refers to the developed nations ("self-centered" nations) which, neo-Marxists argue, through colonization and past colonial domination, have transformed the backward areas into peripheral econ- omies, ("outward-looking" economies). "The periphery is that portion of economic space whith is characterized by backward technology with consequent low levels of renumeration of the labor fbrce and/or by advanced technology with little capacity to absorb the mass of the population into the modern sector." [de Janvry, 1975:P-491]. Lenin did not examine the peripheral economies but the concepts produced by' his work on imperialism, constitute a perspective for the analysis of the class struggle in the world economy. 1In his Economic Theory and Underdevelopment Regions, published in the United States as Rich Lands and Poor (New York: Harper and Row, 1958), the Swedish political economist Gunnar Myrdal used the con- cept periphery-center to analyze the effects of exchange between dif- ferent regions of the United States. Myrdal contends that growth at the center (more developed regions), stimulates growth at the periphery (less developed ones) but these "spread effects"cou1d be canceled or even reversed by "backwash" effects to the point that the periphery may not be able to organize and sustain new economic activities. Later, Myrdal extended his analysis to regional and international relations (see Myrdal 1970). 3 The purpose of this paper is to analyze Samir Amin's views on the role of agriculture in the development process of the Third World countries. It is beyond the scope of this paper to undertake a com- prehensive analysis of the theory as a whole. Amin is a well known nee-Marxist and one of the most publicly acclaimed African economists. Amin was born in 1931, in Egypt. He served from 1957 to 1960 as a Research Fellow of the Economic Develop- ment Organization, Cairo and later served as a technical advisor to the Government of Mali, from 1960 to 1963. Having established, over one decade, a solid reputation in these African governments, Amin began to gain admiration among a considerable number of intellectuals in Africa and throughout the world. Befbre being appointed as Director of L'institut Africain pour la Developpement et de la Planification (IDEP) Dakar in 1970, Amin was professor at three dif- ferent universities: Poitiers and Vincennes in France, and Dakar in Senegal. Because of his growing influence on development planning officers, and young African intellectuals and the dominant role of agriculture in African economies,it is important to examine his views on agricultural development in Africa and in the Third World. These views cannot be fully understood, however, without an exposition of his theory of dependency and underdevelopment. The influential theories of Amin have been subjected to relatively little published criticism. In fact, as Schiffer [1981] noticed, "there has been remarkably few critical appraisals of Amin's work." Schiffer tries to demonstrate that Amin's analysis is "illogical especially from the Marxist point of view" and that I'available evidence does not support his contention of 'blocked' 4 capitalist development." Sheila Smith [1980] criticized Amin's views on the necessity of an analysis of underdevelopment at the world level, on the nature of peripheral economies, and on the economic relationships between the center and the periphery. This paper supplements the critiques by Schiffer and Smith. After a presentation of the broad theoretical features of Amin's work, this paper focuses on the following six main issues in Amin's analysis: 1. relationship between agriculture and industry, 2. types of agricultural production systems, 3. trade off-between cash crops and fbod crops, 4. role of the state and private enterprise in marketing, 5. benefit incidence of rural to urban migration, and 6. benefit incidence of international migration. The paper is divided into three parts. The first part is an exposition of Amin's theory of underdevelopment. It presents the origins of underdevelopment and the reasons proposed by Amin to account for constant reproduction of underdevelopment in the periphery. Part two is an analysis of the origins and contemporary fbrms of underdevelopment in Africa. The continent was victim of the mer- cantilist slave trade. Africa was also victim of the "forced" inte- gration into the world capitalist system. Amin tries to demonstrate how these historical events have impacted the agricultural sector in the African countries. The third part is a critical analysis of Amin's views on the six important issues described above. It will be shown that Amin's views are contradictory in many cases. I. THE ORIGINS OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT Amin's study of the origins of underdevelopment is conducted in terms of two major and interrelated themes. First he analyzes the transition from pre-capitalist fbrmations to the social formations1 of peripheral capitalism. Amin tries to demonstrate that neoclassical economic theory is unable to explain the causes of underdevelopment. Secondly, he presents the general features of peripheral economies and how these structures will lead to stagnation. A. Transition from Pre-Capitalist Formations to the Peripheral Capitalism Neoclassical economic theory of transition from subsistence economies to market economies is presented by Amin as "doubly super- ficial and inadequate" because the results of such work "alWays suffer from the inadequacies of a 'science' that isolates the 'economic' field from that of sociology." [Amin, 1974C:p.l37]. .Amin rejects not only the methodology of neoclassical economic theory but also the terminology: “transition from subsistence economies to market economies." He argues that: the problem is not one of transition from subsistence economies [that is, economies Without commodity exchanges] to market economies [which would imply that what is meant is a simple commodity economy, or that all market economies are similar]. 1Social fbrmations are defined by Amin as an organized socio- economic, and political structure characterized by a dominant mode of production which fbrms the apex of subordinate modes. [Amin, 1972]. 5 6 It is a problem of transition from economic fbrmations which are non-capitalist [but not necessarily non-commodity] economies to capitalist economic formations. [Amin, 1974C:p.l37]. Thus, Amin asserts that: “the only scientific concept is that of transition from pre-capitalist social fbrmations to the social fbrma- tions of peripheral capitalism." [Amin, 1974C:p.138]. This analysis of transition is an extension of the theory of the transition from feudalism to capitalism (from the European feudalism to capitalism) developed by Marx. Amin believes that "aggression by the capitalist mode of produc- tion, from outside, against these fbrmations (pre-capitalist fbrma- tions), constitutes the essence of the problem of their transition to fbrmations of peripheral capitalism." [Amin, 1974C:p.142]. Amin contends that pre-capitalist fbrmations are transfbrmed by colonial trade, fbreign investment, import-substituting industrialization and the international division of labor within multinational firms. The instruments are used by the capitalist mode of production to combat the "tendency of the rate of profit to fall." On the question of colonial trade Amin observes that the colonial authority: concerns itself with stimulating 'monetarization of the primitive A economy,‘ as the conventional expression has it. What is meant here is the use of methods that are purely and simply methods of violence, and therefore methods of primitive accumulation. The obligation to pay taxes in money fbrm is the most widespread device employed. In the same connection, however, we should not fbrget 'compulsory crops': in tropical Africa, fbr example, the 'commandant's fields,‘ with the obligation to grow export crops. In extreme cases the cultivators have been simply expropriated: the creation of inadequate 'native reserves,‘ so that the African peasants are obliged to go and sell their labor power to the mines, factories, or plantations owned by the Europeans, belongs in this context. [Amin, 1976:p.204]. 7 As a result of this domination and control, local craftsmen and small scale industries were ruined and local agriculture was deprived of its traditional markets. Thus the peasant now uses his food to buy industrial products instead of buying local crafts. [Amin, 1974C: p. 150]. According to Amin, this is an absolutely crucial phenomenon “which underlies both the alleged "population problem . . . as well as a certain number of parasitical directions subsequently taken by economic activity." [Amin, 1974C:pp150-51]. With foreign investment, "the conditions for unequal exchange-- that is, fbr the reproduction of underdevelopment--are thus gradually assembled." [Amin, 1976:p.206]. But Amin believes that fbreign capital is the symptom not the cause of the problem. The real problem is that ”foreign capital was invested not in local production designed fbr the local market but in producing for the external market." [Amin, 1974C:p.160]. Moreover, it is impossible fbr local capital to find investment freely. Amin explains the role of fbreign investment as follows: . The penetration by fbreign capital speeds up the formation of native capital. The latter cannot find investment, for the general reason that commercial exchange still goes on, parallel with the penetration of foreign capital, and that local capital, weak because newly formed [and therefbre small in amount] is incapable of competing with the advanced industry of the center. The foreign capital that flows in makes the crisis still more intense. [Amin, 1974C:p.162]. The development which will result from this influx of fbreign capital will become increasingly external to the local economy. "Dualism in the crudest form, the juxtaposition of two independent sectors, may sometimes make its appearance." [Amin, 1974C:p.l63]. Amin recognizes, however, that a steady accumulation of capital which 8 increases total demand, will take place as a result of fbreign capital penetration. But he notes that, although accumulation occurs, the rate of development is slower, because craftsmen return to agriculture and the tertiary sector which offers substantial resistance to sub- sequent development; the specific direction taken by foreign invest- ment; and finally, the limited possibilities for the newly fbrmed native capital to be invested. Industrialization by import-substitution is viewed by Amin as the third fbrm of aggression by the capitalist mode of production against subsistence economies because the industrial monopolies endeavored "to maximize their profit on the whole of their activities, at the center and in the periphery, and this led them to prefer investing in the periphery in production for export." [Amin, 1976: P- 210]. The industries that were created employed modern techniques "that were too capital-using to absorb the unemployment caused by the aggression of the capitalist mode of production, and so reproduced. the conditions of a market in which abundant labor supply kept wages low." [Ibid.]. If anything, it is Amin's opinion that the import substitution model of capital accumulation and development will simply increase the inequality within the system and impoverish the major part of the population. Using the reproduction model of Karl Marx, he explains why this strategy fails to bring about desired changes. In this reproduction model, the economic system is divided into fOur sectors: (1) exports, (2) "mass" consumption, (3) consumption of luxury goods, and (4) capital goods. In a self-centered system there exists a "determining relationship" between sectors 2 and 4 which characterized the historical development of capitalism at the center 8 increases total demand, will take place as a result of fbreign capital penetration. But he notes that, although accumulation occurs, the rate of development is slower, because craftsmen return to agriculture and the tertiary sector which offers substantial resistance to sub- sequent development; the specific direction taken by fbreign invest- ment; and finally, the limited possibilities fbr the newly fermed native capital to be invested. Industrialization by import-substitution is viewed by Amin as the third fbrm of aggression by the capitalist mode of production against subsistence economies because the industrial monopolies endeavored "to maximize their profit on the whole of their activities, at the center and in the periphery, and this led them to prefer investing in the periphery in production fer export." [Amin, 1976: Po 210]. The industries that were created employed modern techniques "that were too capital-using to absorb the unemployment caused by the aggression of the capitalist mode of production, and so reproduced. the conditions of a market in which abundant labor supply kept wages low." [Ibid.]. If anything, it is Amin's opinion that the import substitution model of capital accumulation and development will simply increase the inequality within the system and impoverish the major part of the population. Using the reproduction model of Karl Marx, he explains why this strategy fails to bring about desired changes. In this reproduction model, the economic system is divided into four sectors: (1) exports, (2) "mass" consumption, (3) consumption of luxury goods, and (4) capital goods. In a self-centered system there exists a "determining relationship" between sectors 2 and 4 which characterized the historical development of capitalism at the center 9 and also of USSR and China. Whereas, the periphery model of capital accumulation and economic and social development is characterized by "a specific interconnection which is expressed by the link between the export sector and luxury goods consumption." [Amin, et al., 1974: p. 417]. Therefbre, industrialization through import substitution will "start from 'the end,‘ i.e., the manufacture of products corresponding to the more advanced stages of development of the center, in other words, consumer 'durables.‘ " [Ibid.]. The international division of labor within the multinational firms according to Amin leads to a new form of inequality between nations. Amin contends that wages at the center are much higher even if the productivity is the same in the center and periphery. There- fbre, this division of labor "deepens unequal exchange by internalizing this in the firm." [Amin, 1976: p. 212]. This new inequality has several effects: In the first place, the international division of labor deprives the periphery of any initiative of its own development, and thereby reduces to nil all chances not merely of 'catching up' in terms of consumption but even of aspiration to some sort of autonomy, if only of a cul- tural and political order. Then, it adds to the transfers of values from the periphery to the center. The visible transfers alone, in the fbrms of rewards of capital and payments fbr 'software,‘ and arising from the monopoly of specific kinds of equipment, are enormous. [Amin, 1976: p. 212]. The international division of labor is not, however, noticeable in the Third World as a whole. In South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Mexico, the effects of the international division of labor are already identifiable. For example, the balance of payments of these countries have become vulnerable fbr the following reasons: 10 First because the exclusive allocation of investments to industries of this type has been made at the expense of agriculture and the industries aiming at the home market, so that there has been a rapid growth in imports in those sectors. Second, because imports of equipment and semi- finished goods have increased at the same pace as indus- trialization. Finally, and above all, because transfers of profits, visible and invisible, largely wipe-out the benefits of exports. The external balance worsens when the rate of inflow of new capital slows down, reproducing the familiar pattern of the blocking of independent growth. [Amin, 1976: p. 213]. Furthermore, despite the high growth rates achieved by these countries, Amin asserts that "they are even more dependent than they were twenty years ago" and “the strengthened domination of central capital forbids any fOrmation of a bourgeoisie of national entrepre- neurs." [Amin, 1976: pp. 213-14]. The peripheral fbrmations have different origins and were integrated into the world system in different forms and epochs. But, "despite their different origins the peripheral fbrmations tend to converge toward a pattern that is essentially the same." [Amin, 1974C: p. 378]. Amin presents the essential features shared by all the peripheral fermations beginning with the first one--that is--the pre- dominance of agrarian and commercial capitalism in the national sector of the economy. The development of agricultural production fbr exports tends to give rise to an agrarian capitalism throughout the periph- ery and, furthermore, the latifundia fbrm of this agrarian capitalism, both in Latin America and in the East1 is con- tinually threatened by the rising power of the rich peasantry, so that the Kulak form of agrarian capitalist is tending to become general and to expand in scope. [Amin, 1974C: p. 378]. 1By East.Amin means Asia and the Arab World. 11 As a result of the predominance of agrarian capitalism, a large number of agricultural laborers are thrown out of employment, and the proportion of landless peasants increases. [Amin, 1974C: p. 381]. The second feature shared by all peripheral fbrmations is the creation of a local bourgeoisie in the wake of dominant fbreign capital. Amin contends that in such case the mechanisms of primitive accumulation will function in favor of colonial capital. The third feature is the tendency to increase the role of state enterprises and a bureaucratic farm of development. The rise of petty- bourgeois strata ("officials, office workers, in some cases old-style craftsmen, small traders, middle peasants, etc.“) which assume major importance in local affairs is a manifestation of the phenomenon'bf state capitalism.. . ." [Amin, 1974C: p. 394]. 8. Development of Underdevelopment Having presented Amin's analysis of the transition from pre- capitalist fbrmations to the fbrmations of peripheral capitalism, we can now indicate the forces which, according to him, account fbr the impossibility of attaining autonomous and self-sustained growth, that is development in the true sense. [Amin, 1974C: p. 393]. In his endeavors to prove that growth is blocked in the periphery, Amin uses central capitalism ("the true capitalist mode of production") as a standard against which the experience of the underdeveloped countries is evaluated. Underdevelopment, however, can be understood only at world level because the underdeveloped economy "is a piece of a single machine, the capitalist world economy." [Amin, 1974C: p. 19]. The world level analysis is further justified: 12 . capitalism has become a world system, and not just a juxtaposition of 'national capitalism.‘ The social contra- dictions characteristic of capitalism are thus on a world scale, that is, the contradiction is not between the bour- geoisie and the proletariat of each country considered in isolation, but between the world bourgeoisie and the world proletariat. [Amin, 1974C: p. 24]. Thus, the periphery is a structure that can only be understood "when it is situated as an element in a world social structure.“ [Amin, 1976: p. 294]. Moreover, that structure is truncated because the "leading nucleus, the essential driving force, is at the 'center of centers,‘ in the monopolies of the United States," and the bour- geoisie of the periphery has been farmed in the context of "a world market created, moved and dominated by the center." [Amin, 1974C: p..25]. The primary objective of Amin's world level analysis is to show that the integration of the periphery into the world capitalist system has led to unequal international specialization which is manifested in three kinds of distortions in the development of the periphery. The distortions are the deviations from the "standard," “correct," "true," and "pure" capitalism, the central capitalism. The first distortion is the orientation of the periphery toward export activities (extraversion). This distortion, "the decisive one," is said to result from ”the superior productivity of the center in all fields, which compels the periphery to confine itself to the role of comple- mentary supplier of products fbr the production of which it possesses a natural advantage: exotic agricultural produce and minerals." [Amin, 1976: p. 200]. Therefbre, that distortion "does not result from inadequacy of home market.“ [Ibid.]. 13 The second distortion is the enlargement of the tertiary sector in the peripheral economies, which “neither the evolution of the structure of demand nor that of productivities can explain." [Amin, 1976: p. 200]. Amin explains: At the center, hypertrophy of the tertiary sector reflects the difficulties in realizing surplus value that are inherent in the advanced monopoly phase, whereas in the periphery it is from the beginning a result of the limitations and con- tradictions characteristic of peripheral development: inad- equate industrialization and increasing unemployment, strength- ening of the position of round rent, etc. [Amin, 1976: pp. 200-201 . The third distortion, the orientation toward light branches of activity which use modern production techniques, is the source of "special problems that dictate development policies in the periphery that are different from those on which the development of the West was based." [Amin, 1976: p. 201]. In fact, we cannot confuse the underdeveloped countries with the now advanced countries as they were at an earlier stage of their development, because "underdevelopment is manifested not in level of production per head, but in certain characteristic structural features . . ." [Ibid.]. These characteris- tic features are the extreme unevenness in the distribution of produc- tivities in the peripheral economies and in the system of prices transmitted to them from the center; the disarticulation due to the adjustment of the peripheral economies to the need of the center; and the economic domination of the center "which is expressed in the fbrms of international specialization . . . and in the dependence of the structures whereby growth in the periphery is financed . . ." [Amin, 1976: p. 202]. 13 The second distortion is the enlargement of the tertiary sector in the peripheral economies, which "neither the evolution of the structure of demand nor that of productivities can explain." [Amin, 1976: p. 200]. Amin explains: At the center, hypertrophy of the tertiary sector reflects the difficulties in realizing surplus value that are inherent in the advanced monopoly phase, whereas in the periphery it is from the beginning a result of the limitations and con- tradictions characteristic of peripheral development: inad- equate industrialization and increasing unemployment, strength- ening of the position of round rent, etc. [Amin, 1976: pp. 200-201 . The third distortion, the orientation toward light branches of activity which use modern production techniques, is the source of "special problems that dictate development policies in the periphery that are different from those on which the development of the West was based." [Amin, 1976: p. 201]. In fact, we cannot confuse the underdeveloped countries with the now advanced countries as they were at an earlier stage of their development, because "underdevelopment is manifested not in level of production per head, but in certain characteristic structural features . . ." [Ibid.]. These characteris- tic features are the extreme unevenness in the distribution of produc- tivities in the peripheral economies and in the system of prices transmitted to them from the center; the disarticulation due to the adjustment of the peripheral economies to the need of the center; and the economic domination of the center "which is expressed in the fbrms of international specialization . . . and in the dependence of the structures whereby growth in the periphery is financed . . ." [Amin, 1976: p. 202]. 14 In the final section of Volume I of his Accumulation on a World Scale, Amin points out that the development of peripheral capitalism is neither regular nor cumulative. "On the contrary, it is jerky and made up of phases of extremely rapid economic growth ['economic mirales'] followed by sudden blockages and 'failures to take-off.'" [Amin, 1974C: p. 299]. These blockages are manifested in a double crisis of external payments and public finances, "which is a chronic phenomenon in the history of the Third World." [Ibid.]. II. HISTORY OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT AND AGRICULTURAL STAGNATION IN AFRICA Amin undertakes a historical analysis to demonstrate the arbi- trariness of some modern conceptions about African backwardness. He contends that, befbre the mercantilist slave trade, "Black Africa was not on the whole more backward than the rest of the world." [Amin, 1972: p. 506]. During that period, long distance trade "encouraged social differentiation, and the creation of states and empires just as it promoted the improvement of instruments, and the adaption of techniques and products to suit local climatic conditions." [Amin, 1972: p. 509]. Alas, with the mercantilist slave trade, and forced integration into the world capitalist system, "the only true 'tradi- tional' Africa, neither isolated nor primitive" was transfbrmed into a backward continent. A. The Mercantilist Slave Trade "Reduced to the function of supplying slave labour fbr the plantations of America, Africa lost its autonomy." [Amin, 1972: p. 511). The continent began to be shaped “according to foreign requirements, those of’mercantilism." [Ibid.]. Amin presents the devastating effect of the mercantilist slave trade: There were wars and anarchy almost everywhere on the continent, and the flight of peoples towards regions of shelter which were difficult to reach and also very poor--such as those of the poleo- negritic peoples in the over-populated mountains of West Africa. It all ended with alarming decrease in population. The processes 15 16 of integration were stopped, as well as the constructions of large communities, begun in the premercantilist period. Instead there was an incredible fragmentation, isolation, and entanglement of peoples, and this, as we know, is the root cause of one of the most serious handicaps of con- temporary Africa. Amin asserts that the new fbrms of economic and social organizations imposed by the invaders, which stopped the normal development process, created an already bad situation fbr Africa that, alas, had to be worsened by the integration into the world capitalism system. 8. Integration into the World Capitalist System Amin divides Black Africa into three wide macro-regions: the traditional West Africa ("Africa of the colonial trade economy"), the traditional Congo River basin ("Africa of the concession-owning com- panies“), and-the Eastern and Southern parts of the continent ("Africa of the labour reserves"). Since Amin is mainly concerned with agri- cultural problems of West Africa, attention will be focused on that portion of the continent. With the end of mercantilism, the slave trade disappeared; the old periphery of the plantation of America, and its African periphery of the slave trade, "had now to give way to a new periphery whose function was to provide products which would tend to reduce the value of both constant and variable capital used at the centre: raw ‘ [Amin, 1972: p. 516]. materials and agricultural produce." The colonist powers shaped a system which made possible the large-scale production of tropical agricultural products for export under the terms necessary to interest central capital in them, i.e. 1Amin's analysis concerning the terms under which these products were supplied to the center are exposed in Chapter I. 17 "provided that the returns to local labour were so small that these products cost less than any possible substitutes produced in the centre itself." [Amin, 1972: p. 516]. These procedures gave rise to the "Africa of the colonial trade economy."1 The political and economic processes included the fellowing: (i) the organisation of a dominant trade monopoly, that of the colonial import-export houses, and the pyramidal shape of the trade network they dominated, in which the Lebanese occupied the intermediate zones while the former African traders were crushed and had to occupy subordinate positions; (ii) the taxation of peasants in money which forced them to produce what the monopolists offered to buy; (iii) political support to the social strata and classes which were allowed to appropriate defacto some of the tribal lands, and to organize internal migrations from regions which were delib- erately left in their poverty so as to be used as labour reserves in the plantation zones; (iv) political alliance in the social groups which, in the theoretical framework of the Muslim brotherhoods, were interested in commercialising the tribute they levied on the peasants; and last but not least, (v) when the foregoing procedures proved ineffective, recourse pure and simple to administrative coercion: forced labour. [Amin, 1972: p. 520]. As a result,the traditional society was distorted to the point of being unrecognizable; "it lost its autonomy, and its main function was to produce fbr the world market under conditions which, because they impoverished it, deprived the members of any prospects of radical modernization." [Ibid.]. Hence, “this 'traditional' society was not, therefore, in transition to 'modernity;' as a dependent society it was complete peripheral, and hence at a dead end." [Amin, 1972: p. 520]. 1Amin (1974b) contends that “trade economy" is not an exact translation in English of the expression "economie de traite" he uses in his original French texts. The producer in the "economie de traite" is a semi-proletarian because he is a producer who is dominated and exploited. III. TRANSFORMING THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR: SIX MAIN ISSUES Amin's views-on agriculture are scattered and difficult to syn- thesize fer an overall appraisal. Fbr example, in the book L'Agriculture Africaine et le Capitalismg, which Amin edited in 1975, he does not contribute any views on agriculture. He simply served as the editor without even writing a preface or forward. The starting point is to examine Amin's views on agriculture as part of his broader concern with the center and periphery. A. Relationship Between the Agricultural and IndustriaT'Sectors The purpose of this section is to present and analyze Amin's views on six main issues involved in agricultural development. The first issue is Amin's global model of development and the relationship between the agricultural and industrial sectors in the development process. Unlike W. Arthur Lewis (1954 & 1965), Amin does not believe that growth in the "capitalist (industrial) sector" would somehow drag the "non capitalist (agriculture) sector" along the path of growth and development. Neither does he contend like Mellor (1976), that increases in technology and appropriate government pricing policy fbr fbod grain, would solve unemployment and food problems in the poverty- stricken areas of the globe. Instead Amin considers a coordinated expansion on the agricultural and industrial fronts, as the only path toward development. 18 19 In 1965, Amin published a book (1965) on the development process of three socialist countries: Mali, Guinea, and Ghana; he observed that annual growth rates were very low in these countries and a dual pattern of industrial and agricultural development was not meeting the needs of society. Moreover, he noted that the same general problems were found in the capitalist countries in West Africa. He contended that in order fbr both capitalist and socialist countries in West Africa to achieve higher growth rates that will reduce the gap sepa- rating them from the developed countries, they need to promote the concurrent development of the agricultural and industrial sectors. Amin's version of the "Walk on Two Legs"1 theory is organized around three major agricultural revolutions: first, the expansion of the use of draft animals; second, building up a machinery industry to produce investment goods; and third, change fiscal policy. Amin [1965: p. 210] contends that the transfermation of the traditional agriculture requires first of all "a widespread adoption of animal traction which implies the replacement--say within twenty years--of the present extensive farming methods to more intensive methods which mixed farming will offer."' (Our translation.) Amin expects the productivity and returns from crop production to increase as a result of shifting from hand cultivation to animal traction. In fact he argues that agricultural productivity will increase three to four times as a result of animal traction. However, the success of this program calls for the mass mobilization of the rural people to create an awareness of animal traction technology. [Amin, 1965: p.211]. 1Amin borrowed this expression from Mao (1977). Working on two legs means to promote concorrently agriculture and industry. 20 This effort must be accompanied by "a real effort at diversification of crops, the development of industrially important crops, high value plantation crops, and improvement of livestock and increased quality control." [Our translation; Ibid.] Amin predicted that the animal draft revolution, “would permit, within twenty years, the construction of a solid agricultural base, on which large scale industry will rest." [Our translation; Amin, 1965: p. 211]. The second agricultural revolution consists of large investments in industrial plants and facilities that produce investment goods needed by industry and agriculture. For example, the industrial plants will produce tractors and fertilizer which will increase productivity and returns from crop production. [Ibid.]. (But Amin believed that the establishment of large scale industries is out of the question without the establishment of a West African economic union. Specife ically Amin felt that the only viable alternative is the creation of "industrial complementarities between the regions of a unified West Africa." [Our translation; Amin, 1965: p. 213]. As discussed above, Amin rejected the creation of import-substitution industries, because these industries will require capital and scarce resources (skilled labor), and they will increase inequality, and unemployment and there- by impoverish the major portion of the population. The third agricultural revolution presented by Amin relates to the refbrm of the fiscal system in order to mobilize local resources far develOpment. The financing of animal traction and large-scale industry requires curtailing consumption of the high income groups in order to channel "savings into productive investments." [Our translation; Amin, 1976: p. 225]. The state cannot rely on foreign 21 aid, it must be strong enough to extract surplus purchasing power. Because, if investment is left to private firms, "the needed structural changes will never occur." [Our translation; Ibid.]. Now we shall examine the empirical data for each of the three recommended agricultural revolutions: on the animal traction recom- mended, Amin provided no evidence that increase in yields and gross returns on West African farms can be obtained through animal traction. However, constraints on adoption and effective use of agricultural technology, need to be identified and tackled. President Jawara's1 address to the parliament of his country soon after independence is perhaps a useful pointer to the mistakes that have to be avoided: Agricultural technology is not simply transferable, but must be adapted to the peculiar conditions of individual locations. Production in this sector is carried on by a large number of individual farmers for whom it is not only a means for obtaining a livelihood but also the source of their family sustenance. Mistakes are therefore costly and individual farmers are thus reluctant to assume the risk of innovations whose advanta e over traditional methods are uncertain. [Jawara, 1970] Jawara's argument plays up the need fbr location-specific applied research to deal with problems of mechanization. If anything is clear, it is that agricultural problems of the different West African countries are not uniform and that there is not a large typical African country. A large amount of empirical data will have to be collected on a country-by-country, sector-by-sector, and sub-location- by-sub-location basis in order to come up with new innovations and techniques that reflect the changing needs of the different groups of the society. 1Sir Dawda Jawara is the president of the Gambia, West Africa. 22 Viewed from this perspective, Amin's recommendations are unrealistic and nonoperational. In fact, a recent study [Sargent et al., 1981] based on a review of available literature and a detailed assessment of 27 projects in Francophone West Africa, belies Amin's contention that the use of animal traction can successfully be expanded to all the regions of West Africa. As of 1981, sixteen years after Amin published his book, "a package which has been tested and proven at the farm level is not available for widespread adoption in most countries in the francophone West Africa." [Sargent et al., 1981: p. 61]. "Overall," Crawfbrd et a1. (1981) wrote, "limited earnings opportunities, uncertain supporting services, and a high variable climate combine to confront the adopter with substantial financial risks." The results of the study done by Barrett et a1. (1981) in Eastern Upper Volta, show that yields effects of animal traction are modest. Animal traction can, and does, in some cases, achieve high benefits; however, only on-farm testing can show where it does. In fact, elements such as labor data, land tenure system, grain marketing study, inventory of the existing rural small scale industries, and all the questions related to biological and mechanical technology to the individual environment have to be seriously examined befbre animal traction can be carried into effect. Six years after Amin had endorsed animal traction he reversed his position and stated "The use of animals means a heavy increase in the work required . . . there is no real economic incentive to adopt this method." [Amin, 1971: p. 170]. Furthermore, he emphasized that the M0551 peasants of the Central Plateau Region of Upper Volta, "more 23 rational than those who want to transfbrm the peasantry using a cen- tury old European model, as a standard, have resisted this false means of modernization." [Our translation.] Turning to the second revolution--heavy industry--, Amin provides no empirical evidence that tractors are a sound and well tested tech- nology that West African farmers will adopt. Moreover, in a review of surveys of tractor mechanization in South Asia, Binswanger (1978) discovered that the social and private benefits that arose out of the agricultural uses of tractors were often overestimated. Furthermore, "the tractor surveys," Binswanger wrote: fail to provide evidence that tractors are responsible for substantial increases in intensity, yields, timeliness, and gross returns on farms in India, Pakistan, and Nepal. At best, such benefits may exist but are so small that they cannot be detected and statistically supported, even with very massive survey research efforts. This is in marked contrast to new varieties or irrigation, where anybody would be surprised if he failed to find statistically significant yields effects, even in fairly modest survey effbrts. [Binswanger, 1978: p. 73]. Although the results of this study cannot be applicable to West Africa, they do point out the importance of biochemical technology as a source of agricultural change. Moreover, even if mechanical technology did increase production, it could lead to problems of equity, welfare and employment as well. The results of Winch (1976) study in Ghana largely support the view that larger farmers generally adopted the new technology and made full use of it. Winch's study enables a much clearer perception of the policy options available to Ghana because it used a cost route survey to collect farm level data by continuously interviewing 161 farmers from May, 1973 through February, 1974. The costs and returns fbr six production systems (five bottomland 24 production systems and one upland rice system) were analyzed from both the private and the social point of view. The author's comparison of the employment and income distribution implications of alternative rice production strategies revealed that a large scale, capital inten- sive strategy would generate less employment than a small farm produc- tion strategy. Moreover, Winch found that both strategies would generate about the same net farm income in the aggregate. (See Table 3.1 and 3.2.) But a small farm production campaign would generate more employment and income fbr casual workers (Table 3.3). Furthermore, we cannot say, like Amin did, that animal traction should be adopted first and the tractors later. Tractors can well be adopted first depending on the nature of the soil, cropping mix, and farmers' behavior toward the technology. Only empirical studies can tell which one is more suitable for the area studied. Again, in a more recent publication, Amin warns of the danger of the use of modern techniques in the African rural sector and argues that the primitive farms of colonial exploitation are bound to evolve into a new type of rural economy: In agriculture, the increasing trend is the development of irrigated perimeters using modern technology (machinery, fertilizers etc.). This intensive exploitation will certainly cause land ownership to play a far greater role in social differentiation than it has ever played in the context of dry intensive farming. Such intensification is the sine qua non of the extention to tropical Africa of the 'green revolution' whose effects are now well known to speed up class differen- tiation. In the field of animal husbandry, the extensive semi-nomadic methods will no doubt be progressively relin- quished to pave the way of a ranch economy. In a ruthless article published by the English review The Economist [October 6, 1966], an anonymous correspondent of unbelievable cynicism, declares that the Sahel 'vocation' is to produce meat for the developed world and that this vocation demands the disappearance of the population of semi-nomadic herdsmen 25 TABLE 3.1 Projected Output, Employment, and Income Impacts of a 35,000 Acre Rice Production Campaign in Northern Ghana: Small Farm vs. Large Farm Small Farm Large Farm Per 35,000 Per 35,000 Indicator Units Acre Acres Acre Acres Output Bags 8.7 304,500 10.2 357,000 Tans 24,470 28,688 Employment Man-days 30.6 1,071,000 6.8 238,000 Man-months 44,625 9,917 Net Farm Income Cedis 60 2,100,000 63 2,705,000 Cedis 27 945,000 81 2,835,000 SOURCE: Winch (1976). 26 .Aa~a_v coca: ”mumaom pm~.¢~ oem.m— npp com map can mmm.m o oom.o_ oom.~— mnp com mop oem om~.m e oo—.m oom.m omm cop cm omp oom.up N u u u n . mvumu . i u u n n u n u . mpumu . i u - . 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