Modern monoculture: A product of colonialism

 For my final blog post, I will be focussing on monoculture as a colonial legacy on the African continent. 



Tea plantation in Rwanda

Monoculture is a unanimous legacy of colonization across the continent and beyond (Kanu, 2012; Watkins, 2018; Havik et al., 2018). “Egypt produced cotton, Rwanda-Urundi was almost completely dedicated to growing coffee, and Upper Volta specialized in palm oil” (Kanu, 2012, pg 127). In the Brazilian state of Bahia, palm oil has been extracted for five centuries (Watkins, 2018). In Guinea-Bissau, the cashew crop-boom began in the 90s, where cashews were grown by over half of agricultural households (Havik et al., 2018). The practice of monoculture and its export destinations are all practices mastered during the colonial period, meant to increase efficiency and productivity, for the benefit of empires (Ross, 2017). The histories of mass exploitation and violence expressed in the environment, have manifested into a crisis in post-colonial Africa (Kanu, 2012). 

The 19th-century scramble for Africa, whereby European powers randomly divided the continent, linguistic and ethnic groups, into ridiculously arbitrary lines, formed the African countries we see today (Kanu, 2012). Natural resource exploitation is a key point of the story, by which raw materials were violently extracted and brought back to the Empire (Kanu, 2012). Monoculture is a colonial agricultural practice that degrades soil, reduces nutrient availability, increases the risk of disease and pest outbreaks due to the lack of plant diversity, and reduces overall productivity (Boguzas, et al., 2022; Balogh, 2021; Magarey, 1999). As well, monoculture agriculture is highly linked to water security issues (Levia, et al., 2020). Areas with plant uniformity are “linked to increases in flood and drought frequencies and magnitudes, and deterioration of water quality, both of which place people at risk” (Levia, et al., 2020, pg. 657). Further, the increasing need to control pests with pesticides and herbicides pollute rivers and streams (Balogh, 2021). These histories have manifested into environmental and socio-economic issues that current African countries are bearing the burden of (Baptista, et al., 2022). Climate change has further exacerbated these conditions (Baptista, et al., 2022). Beyond the environmental impacts of monoculture on African agriculture, it has left economies highly susceptible to financial crises and price swings (Kanu, 2012). Many African economies are still recovering from these horrifying histories (Kanu, 2012).

It is thus, very important to consider water and food, modern agricultural practices, the degradation of the environment, food insecurity, and economic issues, from a post-colonial lens.


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