Unity and Struggle

Speeches and Writings of Amilcar Cabral

,

• Publisher: Monthly Review Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780853456254
• eBook ISBN: 9781583678169
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: African History
• Index: History

Cabral is among the great figures of our time — these texts provide the evidence.

PART 1

The Weapon of Theory

WRITINGS OF YOUTH

1. Two poems

Island¹

You live – sleeping mother –

naked and forgotten,

dry,

battered by the winds,

to the sound of melodies without melody

of the waters which hold us fast…

Island:

your mountains and your valleys

did not sense the times pass,

and stayed in the world of your dreams

– the dreams of your sons –

to cry out to the winds passing,

and the birds flying, free

your anguish!

ISLAND:

endless hills of red soil

– rough soil –

cragged rocks masking the horizons

sea at the four corners holding fast our anguish!

Return²

Old Mama, come and listen with me

to the beating of the rain there at your gate.

It is a beating of a friend

that throbs within my heart.

The friendly rain, Old Mama, the rain

which for so long has not beaten like this…

I heard it said that the Old City,

– the whole Island –

had in scant days become a garden…

They say that the countryside has turned verdant,

a most beautiful colour, because it is the colour of hope.

The land, now, is truly Cape Verde –

– It is the storm becalmed…

Come with me, Old Mama, come,

gather your strength to reach the gate.

The friendly rain has already come to greet you

and is beating within my heart.

¹Published in the weekly A Ilha (The Island) Ponta Delgada, Azores, 22 July 1946.

²Cape Verde – Propaganda and Information Bulletin, 1,2 (November, 1949).

MAN AND LAND

2. Agricultural Census of Guiné¹ 1953 estimate)

IV Final comments

The results of the census are shown in 471 tables included in this report. The comments which follow are an attempt to synthesize these results.

1. Number of agricultural holdings

Guiné has 85 478 indigenous agricultural holdings. This is the number of indigenous families which make their living from agricultural activity.

a) By Councils, Circles and Administrative Districts

Among the Councils and Circles, Mansoa has the highest number of agricultural holdings – 19 538 – which corresponds to the fact that it has the highest population. The Councils and Circles are ranged in the following way for the number of agricultural holdings in descending order: Mansoa, Cacheu, Bafata, Gabu, Farim, Bissau, Fulacunda, Catio, S. Domingos, Bijagos and Bolama.

As for Administrative Districts, Bissorã has the highest number of agricultural holdings – 9481. This District has more agricultural holdings than the majority of Circles.

b) By peoples or tribes

The most populous tribes have the highest number of agricultural holdings. So the holdings of the Balanta people (29 198), Fula (19 637), Manjaco (9762), Pepel (5205) and Mancanha (2959) together make up 91·25 per cent of the total.

2. Cultivated areas and crops

The true cultivated area is 410 801 hectares, that is 12·21 per cent of the surface area of Guiné (3 363 700 hectares), minus the part under water. Crops cover an area of 482 177 hectares, with a multiple cropped area of 71 376 hectares.

a) By Councils, Circles and Administrative Districts

Mansoa, Gabu, Bafata and Farim have the largest cultivated areas (with an absolute figure of more than 50 000 hectares), followed in descending order by Fulacunda, Bissau, S. Domingos, Catio and Bolama.

If the cultivated area is considered as a proportion of the surface area (minus the part under water) of each Council or Circle, the administrative units can be ranged in the following (descending) order: Mansoa (17·08 per cent), Bafata (11·36 per cent), Bolama (9·57 per cent), S. Domingos (9·37 percent), Gabu (7·91 per cent), Fulacunda (5·42 per cent) and Catio (5·01 per cent). For the reasons already given, the true cultivated area of the Bijagos Circle is not known.

As for Administrative Districts, Bissorã (42 136 hectares), Mansaba (32 916 hectares), Bafata-Sede (27 764 hectares) and Cacheu-Sede (25 716 hectares) have the largest cultivated areas (with an absolute figure of more than 20 000 hectares). These figures are higher than the equivalents in the majority of the Circles and Councils: Bissorã has a cultivated area more than double that of the Circles of S. Domingos, Fulacunda, and Catio and that of Bissau Council. As the surface area of each Administrative District is not known, it is possible to make a comparison of the respective cultivated area with the total surface area in each of them.

The largest cultivated areas generally correspond to the largest multiple cropped areas.

b) By people or tribes

The Balanta tribe (30·07 per cent), Fula (28·61 per cent), Mandinga (15·69 per cent) and Manjaco (12·62 per cent) have the largest share of cultivated area, making up 86·99 per cent of the overall total. They are followed, in descending order, by the Mancanha people (3·36 per cent), Pepel (2·89 per cent), Beafada (1·62 per cent), Felupe (1·53 per cent), Mansoanca (0·86 per cent), Balanta-Mané (0·76 per cent), Baiote (0·46 per cent), Bijago and Nalu (0·44 per cent), Pajadinca (0·20 per cent), Sosso (0·18 per cent), Saracole (0·13 per cent), Cassanga (0·11 per cent) and Banhum (0·03 per cent). In other words: there are in Guiné about twenty-five different tribes (1950 Population Census), of whom only a quarter have almost the whole of the cultivated area, with four peoples particularly prominent (Balanta, Fula, Mandinga and Manjaco).

The largest cultivated areas correspond generally to the largest multiple cropped areas. The Fula people who have the largest area under crops do not, however, cultivate the largest true area (the Balanta people do this), as the former practise intensive multiple-cropping (31 811 hectares). The Mandinga people also show this characteristic.

c) By crops

Rice (Oryza spp., 25·86 per cent), groundnuts (Arachis hipogaea, 21·78 per cent), millet (Pennisetum spp., 15·95 per cent) and sorghum (Sorghum spp., 10·97 per cent) are the crops which take up the largest areas (with a figure above 50 000 hectares). Then follows, in descending order, fundo (Digitaria sp.), upland rice (Oryza spp.), maize (Zea mays), manioc (Manihot utilissima), bean varieties, cotton (Gossypium spp.), other food crops, sugar cane (Saccharum spp.) and sesame (Sesamum indicum). In other words: rice (floodplain and upland, 31·72 per cent), cereals (Zea, Pennisetum and Sorghum, 32·07 per cent) and groundnuts (21·78 per cent) take up 85·57 per cent of the area for crops. They are, accordingly, the main crops. If the purpose of these main crops – consumption or export – is considered, it is seen that the food crops, including fundo (Digitaria sp.) take up 70·73 per cent of the total area, and cash crops (groundnuts for export) 21·78 per cent.

Other crops, which may be regarded as secondary, take up 7·94 per cent of the total area, with 6·55 per cent as food crops and 1·34 per cent for cash crops.

d) By crops by tribes

Taking into consideration only the main crops (rice, cereals and groundnuts), it is seen that the Balanta people provide about half the area for floodplain rice (47·16 per cent) the Manjaco people (14·30 per cent), Fula (12·27 per cent) and Mandinga (10·53 per cent) follow. For upland rice, the largest shares come from the Manjaco people (27·95 per cent), Mandinga (21·29 per cent) and Beafada (7·11 per cent). The Fula people have the largest share of the area taken by cereals – sorghum or milho cavalo (44·21 per cent), millet (42·15 per cent) and Brazilian maize (53·73 per cent). The Mandinga people follow with 23·23 per cent, 17·59 per cent and 25·86 per cent respectively, and the Balanta with 16·54 per cent, 21·92 per cent and 10·39 per cent respectively. The Fula people also have the largest share of the area taken by groundnuts (36·04 per cent). The Balanta people follow (24·99 per cent) and the Mandinga (21·58 per cent). These three peoples have 82·61 per cent of the area for groundnuts.

If the distribution of crops within the area cultivated by each people is now considered, it is seen that with the exception of Bijago and Banhum and those peoples who do not cultivate groundnuts (Baiote, Cassanga and Felupe), all the others devote to groundnuts more than ten per cent of the area under crops. The highest percentages are shown by the Balanta-Mané people (28·45 per cent), Sosso (27·62 per cent), Mandinga (27·28 per cent), Mancanha (26·72) and Fula (25·34 per cent).

The Baiote people and Felupe cultivate rice (floodplain and upland) almost exclusively and devote to this plant 99·27 per cent and 90·89 per cent respectively of the total area under crops. They are followed by the Nalu people (75·05 per cent), Bijago (72·43 per cent), Sosso (66·49 percent), Pepel (60·61 per cent), Beafada (56·88 per cent), Balanta (45·24 per cent) and Manjaco (44·72 per cent).

The peoples who devote to cereals (sorghum, millet and Brazilian maize) the highest percentages of the area under crops are the Saracole (53·40 per cent), Pajadinca (51·48 per cent), Fula (46·56 per cent), Mandinga (38·80 per cent), Banhum (37·94 per cent) and Mansoanca (34·62 per cent).

As for fundo, the Saracole, Mancanha and Balanta peoples devote the largest areas to this, with 16·43 per cent, 13·86 per cent and 9·87 per cent respectively of the total area under crops. The peoples who keep the largest areas for beans are the Mancanha, Bijago (Mancanha-Bijago) and Manjaco with 12·76 per cent, 7·55 per cent and 7·02 per cent respectively of the total area under crops.

In respect of production per unit of area, it is observed that this is generally low, in the light of the areas taken by each crop. But despite this and because of the broad extent of the cultivated areas, it is seen that some crops reach a considerable global production figure. This is the case for the main crops: floodplain rice – 90 247 tons: groundnuts – 63 975 tons; cereals (sorghum, millet and Brazilian maize) – 49 796 tons; upland rice – 10 050 tons.

The following comments refer essentially to the main crops:

a) By Councils, Circles and Administrative Districts

The Circles of Mansoa (28 547 tons), Catio (15 294 tons), Cacheu (12 821 tons) and Fulacunda (8445 tons) have the largest share of rice production. Among Administrative Districts, Bissorã (10 575 tons), Bedanda (7008 tons), Catio-Sede (6264 tons), Binar (5947 tons), Mansoa-Sede (5331 tons), Nhacra (4998 tons) and Cacheu-Sede (4992 tons) produce most rice. Catio and Fulacunda show the highest average yield for this crop.

Gabu (19 183 tons), Farim (12 655 tons), Bafata (12 428 tons) and Mansoa (10 155 tons) are the regions with the largest share of groundnuts production. Gabu, Bafata and Farim show the highest average yield for this crop.

Among Administrative Districts, Mansaba (7513 tons), Gabu-Sede (6296 tons), Bissorã (6207 tons), Bafata-Sede (6159 tons), Pirada (4579 tons), Contubo (3535 tons) and Sonaco (3303 tons) produce most groundnuts.

Gabu and Bafata are the highest producers of cereals, with 18 430 tons and 12 366 tons respectively. Farim and Mansoa follow. The yield is higher in the first two regions. They are also the Districts of those administrative zones which produce the largest quantity of these items (sorghum, millet and Brazilian maize).

b) By peoples or tribes

The Balanta people supply 61·01 per cent of the total production of floodplain rice. They are followed by the Manjaco people (12·06 per cent), Fula (7·06 per cent), Mandinga (6·90 per cent) and Pepel (5·01 per cent). For upland rice production, the main suppliers are the Manjaco people (26·08 per cent), Fula (21·88 per cent) and Mandinga (19·19 per cent), and the share of the remaining peoples is minute. The highest average yields are those attained by the Balanta people, Pepel and Manjaco.

The Fula people supply nearly half the groundnuts production (43·61 per cent), followed by the Mandinga people (22·71 per cent), Balanta (17·92 per cent), Manjaco (7·58 per cent), Mancanha (3·80 per cent) and Balanta-Mane(1·24 per cent). The share of the remaining peoples is insignificant. The highest average yields are those attained by the Fula people and Mandinga.

The Fula and Mandinga peoples supply more than two-thirds of the cereal production, with the first of these claiming more than fifty per cent. If the share of these two peoples is added to that of the Balanta, it is seen that almost the entire production of cereals (sorghum, millet and Brazilian maize) is due to them. The highest average yields are those attained by the Fula people and Mandinga.

c) By crops

The production per unit of area is, as was stated, generally low. For all the crops studied, yield varies not only from region to region, but also with the farmers. It does not make sense, therefore, to establish a general average (over the whole of Guiné) of production for each crop.

The main crops (rice, groundnuts and cereals) are those which give the highest yields.

For floodplain rice the highest averages (1800 kilograms) are found in the Catio region and are attained by the Balanta people. The lowest averages (300 to 600 kilograms) are found in the Bafata, Gabu and Farim regions, and are attained by the Islamized peoples (Fula, Mandinga, etc.) Between these extremes lie the averages of the remaining regions, attained by other peoples.

For groundnuts, the highest averages (700 to 900 kilograms) are attained in the Farim, Bafata and Gabu regions by the Islamized peoples (mainly Fula and Mandinga). The lowest averages (300 to 450 kilograms) are attained in the Bolama, Fulacunda and Bissau regions. Between these extremes lie the averages of the remaining regions.

For cereals (sorghum, millet and Brazilian maize), the highest averages (400 to 600 kilograms) are attained by the Fula people and Mandinga in the Gabu and Bafata regions. In the remaining regions the average yield (150 to 300 kilograms) is always below the earlier figures, no matter who the farmers are.

It should be pointed out that in some cases the production of the crops in question achieves noteworthy yields, if the conditions under which they are grown are taken into consideration. So one can see rice production varying between 2500 and 3000 kilograms per hectare (Bedanda region), groundnuts between 1500 and 2000 kilograms per hectare (Nova Lamego region) and cereals between 700 and 1200 kilograms per hectare (Gabu region).

Under present conditions of Guinean agriculture, it is not possible to establish the yield for each species cultivated. Various investigations were made, however, in the hope of finding out, albeit approximately, the order of this characteristic. From the information obtained, it can be concluded that rice is the crop which gives the best return to the indigenous farmer, while groundnuts give him the least return per unit of area.

3. Perennial crops; number of bushes

The character of tilling of fruit-bearing species in indigenous agriculture has already been mentioned. It is clear that the tilling of these bushes by the indigenous farmer cannot be treated as cultivation from the technical point of view. One can point out, as an exception to the general rule, the case of kolas and some other species (bananas and citrus) in the south of Guiné (Cacine and Cubisseque), which are already cultivated with a certain regularity, and on some holdings form genuine orchards.

Fruit trees are always close to or in villages and are generally scattered or in small clumps. They total 1 210 702 bushes, of which 820 884 are already bearing and 389 818 have not yet come into fruit. As will be seen, the great majority comprise bananas, mangoes and papayas.

a) By Councils, Circles and Administrative Districts

In respect to the total number of bushes (bearing and not bearing), the Councils and Circles are ranged in the following way in descending order: Farim, Cacheu, Bafata, Mansoa, Catio, Gabu, Fulacunda, Bissau, S. Domingos and Bolama.

Among Administrative Districts, Mansaba, Bafata-Sede and Bissorã show the highest number of bushes, followed by Cacine, Gabu-Sede, Cacheu-Sede and Piche.

b) By peoples or tribes

In relation to trees bearing fruit, the Mandinga people (27·40 per cent), Fula (20·74 per cent), Balanta (16·88 per cent) and Manjaco (12·11 per cent) show the highest number of bushes. The Nalu people (5·22 per cent), Pepel (4·57 per cent), Mancanha (3·74 per cent), Beafada (3·55 per cent) and Felupe (2·90 per cent) follow, and the share of each of the remaining peoples is insignificant. In relation to the total number of bushes which have not begun bearing, the descending order for tribes is as follows: Fula (30·20 per cent), Mandinga (19·54 per cent), Manjaco (18·13 per cent), Balanta (12·40 per cent), Nalu (5·56 per cent), Beafada (4·37 per cent), Mancanha (2·86 per cent), Felupe (2·12 per cent), Pepel (2·08 per cent), and the share of each of the remaining peoples is minute.

But the real value of these figures becomes clear only when the share of each people in respect of the various fruit species is considered.

c) By crops

Bananas (39·03 per cent), mangoes (26·88 per cent) and papayas (13·60 per cent) comprise, as has been said, the great majority of the total of trees bearing fruit (about eighty per cent). Then follow oranges (6·38 per cent), cashews (6·19 per cent) and lemons (4·64 per cent). As for bushes not yet bearing fruit, bananas take pride of place with 50·14 per cent of the total, followed by the bushes mentioned above as the most common.

d) By crops by tribes

The Balanta people have the highest number of mangoes (fruit bearing, 33·26 per cent; not bearing, 37·65 per cent), followed by Mandinga (19·84 per cent and 18·87 per cent), Fula (16·71 per cent and 12·31 per cent) and Manjaco (8·90 per cent and 20·30 per cent). These peoples also have most bananas, papayas and citrus. The Fula people have more than fifty per cent of the total of tangerines.

As for kola – the richest of the bushes mentioned – it is the Nalu people who have the highest number (fruit bearing, 46·57 per cent, not bearing, 34·96 per cent), followed by Beafada (18·92 per cent and 19·66 per cent), Fula (16·61 per cent and 25·12 per cent) and Mandinga (10·14 per cent and 9·10 per cent). The Balanta and Mancanha peoples have the highest number of cashews.

As for distribution of the various species by people, it is seen that mangoes, bananas and papayas are the most common. Exceptions are the Nalu and Cassanga peoples: the former have a larger showing of kolas and the latter of oranges.

4. Burning off and fallow; nurseries

Burning off had affected an area of 75 670 hectares in 1953, while at the end of the previous farming year 43 275 hectares of cultivated ground had been left fallow. The total fallow can be expressed as approximately four-sevenths of the total burned-off area.

a) By Councils, Circles and Administrative Districts

Mansoa (13 871 hectares), Bafata (13 643 hectares), Gabu (12 354 hectares), Farim (11 246 hectares) and Cacheu (11 122 hectares) are the regions with the largest burned-off areas. S. Domingos (5275 hectares) and Fulacunda (4459 hectares) follow. The first five regions have the largest areas in fallow and the widest differentials burned off – fallow. The Circle of Cacheu shows the widest differential burned off – fal...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Biographical notes
• Part 1 The Weapon of Theory
• Part 2 Revolutionary Practice