Page 45 - Afrika Must Unite

30 AFRICA MUST UNITE
were either too lethargic or too uninterested to take action. It
may be that they were reluctant to do anything which might
interfere with the im port of agricultural products at monopoly
prices. W hatever the reason, local agriculture was discouraged
and imports swelled.
During the war, British troops were stationed in the Gold
Coast. Everyone knows that potatoes are to the British what
bread is to the French. A meal is not complete without them.
U nder wartime conditions, shipping was severely restricted, and
it looked as though the British soldiers would have to go without
their potatoes. It had always been m aintained that our climate
was not suitable for growing them. But the administration,
moved at the thought of British servicemen being deprived of
their staple food, began a ‘grow potatoes’ campaign. Before long,
our hitherto ‘unsuitable’ climate was producing magnificent
crops. Once the war was over, however, and normal shipping
facilities were resumed, the Departm ent of Agriculture changed
its tune. Gold Coast potatoes, we were told, were unfit for
hum an consumption. The result was that potatoes disappeared
from our fields and once more figured among our imports.
We have wide savannahs in the north, ideal with the right
irrigation for the growing of cotton. Yet for many years we spent
millions of pounds importing richly-patterned cloths from
abroad. We have made plans for irrigating these savannahs, and
have projects for cotton-growing and textile-making, and our
experiments are going ahead. We have had to do everything from
scratch, but in spite of this great progress is being made.
Similarly with the fishing industry, we hope in due course to
make up for lost time. Here, too, the colonial regime failed. In
the absence of cattle farming, fish was the most im portant source
of animal protein in the country, and there are plenty of good
fishing grounds near our coasts. A comparatively small ex­
penditure of money on refrigeration and on motorized boats
would have provided for a sufficient quantity of fish to be caught
and brought home in good condition to cover the local market
and leave some over for export. Throughout the entire period of
British administration, even though m alnutrition figured as a
basic cause of a num ber of the country’s diseases, and was
certainly a contributory factor in low productivity, no attem pt