§ Mr. Owenasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what facilities exist in Nyasaland for Africans to obtain the necessary technical, administrative and commercial knowledge to enable them to qualify as agents for the Agricultural Production Marketing Board; and in what respects different qualifications are required for similar positions in the coffee industry.
§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd,pursuant to the reply of the Under-Secretary of State [OFFICIAL REPORT, 20th February, 1958; Vol. 582, c. 169], supplied the following information:
The Agricultural Production and Marketing Board does not employ agents for tobacco-buying but buys direct from producers at its depots in the main tobacco-producing areas. At these depots, Africans are employed as paymasters, ticket-writers and classifiers of tobacco, and this work is providing them with useful training in the complicated business of tobacco-buying.
The processing and marketing of coffee, which is classified under two grades only, requires less specialised staff and it has been found practicable to handle this crop by means of African Co-operatives.