The agricultural and forest products of British West Africa

by Gerald C. Dudgeon

OIL SEEDS.—A tall tree bearing a large flattened legume, known to the Mendi people as “Fai,” or “Fawe,” has been sent for examination to the Imperial Institute on account of the oil contained in the seed. This tree was identified as Pentaclethra macrophylla, and, although common throughout the forested zone, is not seen in profusion anywhere. The oil has been tested, and is said to be capable of utilisation for the manufacture of soap and candles, but not for alimentary purposes. The difficulties in connection with the collection of the seed in large quantities and the extraction of the kernel from the outer horny shell, hinder the creation of a remunerative export trade.

Another vegetable oil is that obtained from the fruit of Pentadesma butyracea, a tree found in some parts of Bullom and in the Port Lokko district. The fat extracted from the ripe fruit is occasionally brought for sale to Freetown, where it is known as Mandingo butter. It does not occur in sufficient quantities to be commercially useful, although it yields an edible oil.

Lophira alata, which is widely distributed throughout the grass country in the north, and is replaced by a nearly allied species, L. procera, in the forest zone, bears a seed which contains a large percentage of oil, which can be used for soap manufacture. The difficulty of decorticating the seeds and their preservation during transport are disadvantages in the establishment of an export trade.

Analyses of the fats or oils yielded by these and other West African oil seeds, and information as to their quality, possible uses and value will be found in Selected Reports from the Imperial Institute, Pt. V., Oil Seeds (cf. also Bull. Imp. Inst., 1912, 1913, 1915, 1917, 1918).

Progress in Agriculture.—In 1910 the Agricultural Department was reorganised on a better basis than formerly, and the purely forestry work, which had been previously carried on by the Agricultural Superintendent, in addition to his other duties, was then transferred to a Forestry Department formed in that year.

Briefly, the scheme of work laid down by the new Department of Agriculture may be said to be on the following chief lines:

(i) The introduction of a cheap and effective organic manure, and the demonstration of its value in such a manner as to induce the people to use it on their land, and thereby to employ more economical means for the production of food, etc.

(ii) The institution of a proper rotation of crops suitable for each district or locality.

(iii) The demonstration to natives of the fact, that, by the proper employment of manuring and crop rotation, they would be able to farm the same piece of land for an indefinite number of years, during which time it should increase rather than diminish in fertility. By such demonstration it should be possible to put an end to the wasteful and permanently destructive methods at present employed of shifting cultivation.

The Agricultural Department has a piece of land on the Experiment Farm at Njala, which has been under crops annually for the past eight years, and the condition of it at present is said to be a more fertile one, owing to the system of manuring and rotation employed, than it was at the commencement of work. This is mentioned here, as it is in contradiction to the well-worn native excuse for changing the site of farms annually, i.e., that it is essential for the maintenance of the fertility of land that after a few years’ cultivation the “bush” be allowed to become re-established so that, on burning, a sufficient amount of wood ash may be obtained to renovate it.