CASH CROPS VERSUS FOOD CROPS IN AFRICA A Conflict between Dependency and Autonomy

Abstract

The article examines the conflict between food-crop production and cash-crop production in Africa. It argues that colonial rule redirected land, labour, credit and infrastructure toward export agriculture, weakening local food production and increasing dependence on imports. After independence, many African governments maintained these policies because cash crops generated foreign exchange and served the interests of state elites, commercial groups, foreign firms and international institutions. The article links this model to rural poverty, inequality, drought vulnerability, famine, indebtedness and environmental degradation. It concludes that export-led agricultural growth failed to secure food self-sufficiency and calls for greater priority to food production, redistribution of agricultural resources and policies based on social needs rather than export profits.