The Failure of Cotton Imperialism in Africa: Did Agricultural Seasonality Undermine Colonial Exports?

European colonizers sought to extract cotton from sub-Saharan Africa.However, while some African farmers generated substantial cotton output, most others did not. I revisit a thesis proposed by John Tosh (1980), to argue that patterns of agricultural seasonalityplayed a crucial role inthese heterogeneous outcomes.A comparison ofwidespread cotton adoption in British Uganda and persistent cotton failure in the French West Africaninteriorhighlights the impact of rainfall seasonalityonfarmers’ production possibilities and subsistence risks.Ugandan output was enabledby long rainy seasons, smoothinglabor requirements and allowingfarmers to assess the food harvestbefore committing to cotton planting. These combined effects resulted in an estimated 4 to 5 times larger capacity to grow cotton alongside food crops. A belated take-off in post-colonial Francophone West Africa illustrates how the observed historicalseasonality constraintwascontingent on technological stagnation and thinfoodmarkets,whichcharacterizedmost parts ofcolonial Africa.