Page 165 - Afrika Must Unite

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

E C O N O M I C A N D P O L I T I C A L
I N T E G R A T I O N : A F R I C A ’S N E E D

A f r i c a , it is frequently m aintained, is poor. Yet it is widely
acknowledged that its potentials provide tremendous possi­
bilities for the wealthy growth of the continent, already known
to contain vast mineral and power resources. The economic
weakness of the new African states has been inherited from the
colonial background, which subordinated their development to
the needs of the colonial powers. To reverse the position and
bring Africa into the realm of highly productive modem
nations, calls for a gigantic self-help programme. Such a pro­
gramme can only be produced and implemented by integrated
planning within an over-all policy decided by a continental
authority.
The superstructure of colonial particularism upon Africa’s
subsistence economies, has resulted in a highly uneven regional
development of the continent. O n the whole, the coastal areas,
the mining regions, and the highland areas where soil and climate
are good, have been exploited within the limitations of colonial
requirements for raw materials. Areas requiring more pre­
exploitation study and comparatively higher capital invest­
ments were left more or less untouched. Hence there are in
Africa huge areas of practically virgin land which, for these
reasons and from geographical considerations, it has up till
now been thought useless to try to develop. W ithin the confine­
ment of these limitations Africa has, however, managed to
produce from its agriculture the following percentages of the
world supplies, according to the 1954 figures:1
66% cocoa; 58% sisal; 65% palm oil; 26% groundnuts;
14% coffee; 11 % olive oil.
1 Economic Development in Africa 1954-5. U.N. & F.A.O. Report.