THE EARL OF MANSFIELDasked His Majesty's Government whether they will state what steps, if any, are being taken, both to increase the production of groundnuts in West Africa and to improve the present inadequate railway facilities for transporting the crops to the coast.
§ VISCOUNT HALLThe steps which are being taken to increase the production of ground-nuts in West Africa, principally in Northern Nigeria, include the development and introduction of improved strains, the extension of mixed farming methods to obtain greater yields and to maintain the fertility of the soil and the encouragement of closer planting. In addition, the price paid for the crop, which is announced before the start of each season, is at a level to encourage production and every effort has been made to secure adequate supplies of consumer goods to provide a real incentive to the ground-nut producer to increase his cash earnings.
A large-scale experiment to test a new technique in the use of fertilisers is being carried out in Northern Nigeria. If successful, this may have a marked effect in increasing production. Schemes are also being designed in Northern Nigeria and the Gold Coast, in the former case in association with the Colonial Development Corporation, to test how far it is possible and economic to introduce mechanised methods into the framework of West African peasant agriculture. Ground-nuts will be among the crops to which mechanical methods will be applied.
As regards the last part of the Question, the transport difficulties in Nigeria have been largely overcome and apart from unforeseen circumstances such as labour troubles, it should be possible to move the whole crop each season. Stocks in the Kano area at February 23 were about 190,000 tons, which should be cleared before the next buying season opens in five or six months' time.
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THE EARL OF MANSFIELDasked His Majesty's Government whether they are able to explain why they have hitherto almost ignored the ground-nut potentialities of West Africa, where the crop has been grown successfully for generations, and concentrated on attempted production in East Africa, where conditions are largely unsuitable, and methods of cultivation unknown to the aborigines.
§ VISCOUNT HALLDue regard has been paid to the production of ground-nuts in West Africa, and the steps which have been taken to develop the potentialities of the area are described in my reply to another Question by the noble Earl. His Majesty's Government are satisfied that these developments are on the lines best suited to the individual territories concerned, and that good use is being made of the experience of West Africans in growing this crop. His Majesty's Government chose Tanganyika for the first operations under the ground-nuts scheme on the advice of the Wakefield Mission and of the Colonial Economic Advisory Council. Ground-nuts are as much a traditional crop in East as in West Africa.