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| Sir Harry Johnston |
PEASANT ECONOMY IN UGANDA
Uganda was also the British colony. It was the British protectorate territory. The nation’s name was delivered from one of the pre-colonial states. ‘The Buganda kingdom’ unlike Kenya, in Uganda the British didn’t promote settlers economy.
Sir Harry Johnston (the British special commissioner) signed the Agreement with the natives. The agreement was based on the protection of the native interests e.g. Buganda, Bunyoro, Toro, Busaga and Ankole agreements.
REASONS FOR THE PEASANT ECONOMY IN UGANDA
The influence of Buganda agreement of 1900. In this agreement between the whites and the natives. The natives were allowed to own land for their crops production land alienation was strictly prohibited. This was followed by the Toro, Ankole, Bunyoro and Busoga agreements.
Also the leader of Uganda collaborated with the British during colonialism. This made the British consider the interests of the Africans (natives).
Not only that, but also the presence of a well-developed peasant production especially in the southern part of Uganda. Equatorial climate promoted the development of peasant system. They had few kulaks who were the rich peasants who could produce the quantity of the raw materials demanded by the capitalists.
Also, the whites wanted the immediate raw materials which couldn’t be obtained immediately from the settler. Settler production demanded a lot of preparation before achieving the first production of raw materials.
Peasants’ economy was cheap to the Europeans. The Europeans were not directly obliged to the labor management costs. The natives used family labor in production. The colonial government supplied those seeds and seedlings. The whites purchased raw materials at a very low price.
Uganda is a landlocked country. It is surrounded by Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, Rwanda and Congo DRC. This didn’t attract many white settlers to invest in such territories. It had few infrastructures to support settler production.
The lack of natural endowment such as mineral and other natural resources limited the white settlers to go to invest in Uganda as they did in the landlocked territory of Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe).
Poor climate and soil fertility in the Northern part of Uganda also limited the white settlers to go to invest in Uganda (Northern part).
Note:
The cash crops produced by the peasants in Uganda include tea, cotton and coffee. They also produced food crops such as bananas, yams, cassava, maize and others.
Sir Apollo Kagwa, the Buganda Katikiro “native prime minister” spread the cotton seeds, coffee seedlings in the Southern part of Buganda kingdom. The peasants experienced many problems in their production.
Robusta coffee was grown by the African peasants in Buganda in Eastern and Western provinces. Arabica coffee was grown by the African peasants on the slopes of Mt. Elgon and in Kigezi highland in Western side of Uganda. There were few settlers who owned plantations of coffee, tea and rubber in MARIBA forest near JINJA and other areas. In 1911 Uganda had only 20 settlers who owned about 2000 acres of land.
THE PROBLEMS OF PEASANT AGRICULTURE IN UGANDA
Lack of knowledge about cash crop production because they weren’t used to them. They had to be educated in a course of time.
They weren’t allowed by the colonial laws to perform shifting cultivation when their land got exhausted after years of their cultivation.
They used outdated instruments of labor such as the hand hoes and axes in production. This increased their difficulties in cash crop production.
They were restricted by the colonial laws to produce a certain variety of cash crops in the particular areas. This made them experience monoculture economy.
They experienced the problem of crop diseases, soil erosion and unfertile soil. These problems were handled through terracing, destocking reforestation, animal keeping and agricultural schemes.
Low prices for their cash crops: The Europeans purchased raw materials from peasants at a very low price which couldn’t meet the production cost and profit expected.
High prices for farm inputs like fertilizer, pesticides and in sections were sold at a very high price. This increased the cost of production to the peasants.
