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Gender and Innovation: Farming, Cooking and Palm Processing in the Ngwa Region, South-Eastern Nigeria, 1900–1930*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Susan Martin
Susan Martin
Affiliation:
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
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Extract

Three main forms of agrarian change are shown to have occurred in the Ngwa region during the period covered in this article. The first was the adoption of a new hand-processing method for palm oil, which can be seen as a response to growing pressures on female labour resources as Ngwa farmers increased their export production of palm oil and kernels. The second was the adoption of cassava by women. This increased their workloads but helped them to fill a hungry-season gap in local food supplies. It formed part of a long-term trend of diversification within Ngwa agriculture. Finally, men began helping with cassava processing. Like their earlier entry into palm-oil processing, this move reflected not only a growing pressure on female labour resources but also a need for men to participate in processing if they were to claim a share of the saleable product. In the concluding sections of the article, gender relations are shown to have influenced farmers' patterns of saving and investment. An awareness of gender is seen to be relevant when considering both the issue of mechanisation and the history of other kinds of agrarian change.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 25 , Issue 4 , October 1984 , pp. 411 - 427
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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References

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58 Interviews, 1980–1.

59 Interviews, 1980–1.

60 See, for example, Usoro, , Nigerian Oil Palm Industry, 35–36Google Scholar; Hancock, W. K., A Survey of British Commonwealth Affairs, II, ii (London, 1942), ch. II.Google Scholar

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63 As seen during my stay in the Ngwa area, 1980–1.

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69 Interviews, 1980–1.

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71 Interviews, 1980–1.

72 See, for examples of the influence of these theories, Hart, , Political EconomyGoogle Scholar; Davidson, Basil, Modern Africa (London, 1983)Google Scholar; and the debate between Hogendorn, , Freund, and Shenton, in Savanna, V, i (1976), 15–28 and VI, ii (1977), 191–199.Google Scholar For examples of empirical evidence which is difficult to fit within these models see Tosh, , ‘Cash crop revolution’Google Scholar, and Guyer, J., ‘Food, cocoa and the division of labour by sex in two West African societies’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, XXII (1980), 355–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar