WWYD to increase the agriculture in West Africa

KarneeKarnay · May 5, 2014

Not sure if there is one of these, so i made my own. WWYD = What Would You Do.

My WWYD is to increase the agriculture of West Africa? I understand along the coast Grain is a good crop to grow. However in the more tropical areas this is harder to achieve. So what would you do to increase the agriculture?

What crops would you introduce, what changes to cultures would you implement?

I know that the Bantu did a lot for changing Africa's cultures to being more farm based than hunter gather. Would an early Bantu migration have increased the populations of West Africa to European levels?

Lycaon pictus · May 5, 2014

As far as the crop package goes, in the discussion of "The Realm of Millions of Years" Daztur had links to a list of crops that can be grown in tropical West Africa. Here's the post.

GovernorGeneral · May 5, 2014

Cut US agricultural subsidies for starters, as those make food production in the developing world more expensive than it should be.

mosodake · May 5, 2014

I'm not sure what you mean by increase. West Africa is the center of domestication for the vast majority of African crops.

For grains, you have rice, millet, sorghum, and fonio. Yams and plantains supply additional starches.

funnyhat · May 5, 2014

mosodake said:
I'm not sure what you mean by increase. West Africa is the center of domestication for the vast majority of African crops.

For grains, you have rice, millet, sorghum, and fonio. Yams and plantains supply additional starches.

Also, Ivory Coast is the world's leading producer of cocoa, and West Africa as a whole produces two-third of the world's supply.

KarneeKarnay · May 6, 2014

With this info in mind what crops would be best for exportation?

Coco seems a good one, perhaps an Moroccan Merchants discover the uses of Coco and turns the Ivory Coast into a trading hub in the early 1400's?

Is the 1400's too late to, lets say make West Africa as big a producers of crops as France or Britain by the 1800's?

mosodake · May 6, 2014

KarneeKarnay said:
With this info in mind what crops would be best for exportation?

Coco seems a good one, perhaps an Moroccan Merchants discover the uses of Coco and turns the Ivory Coast into a trading hub in the early 1400's?

Is the 1400's too late to, lets say make West Africa as big a producers of crops as France or Britain by the 1800's?

Cocoa is native to tropical America. You wouldn't get a chocolate industry in Africa before the discovery of the New World.

KarneeKarnay · May 6, 2014

mosodake said:
Cocoa is native to tropical America. You wouldn't get a chocolate industry in Africa before the discovery of the New World.

;Facepalm: I knew something didn't sound right when I wrote that. What I think I need is a crop that can be grown in large amounts, native to West Africa, that is also a tradeable resource. Something that attracts Indian and European Merchants.