The most important insect pests which attack the cotton plant in Northern Nigeria are three species of Oxycarenus, or cotton-seed bugs: Dysdercus superstitiosus, a cotton-lint stainer, the American cotton boll-worm, Chloridea obsoleta, and a species of Earias,[11] identical with or allied to the Egyptian cotton boll-worm. The last mentioned has only been recorded as yet from the Bornu Province, but the American boll-worm is found at Lokoja and near the Niger in Nupe. The seed-bugs and stainer are generally distributed. In no direction have these pests assumed large proportions, but where they occur the following remedies are recommended for application. The seed-bugs and stainer can be attracted to traps of seed placed in piles upon the ground between the lines of growing cotton, and the insects then destroyed by petroleum or boiling water. In the case of the boll-worms, trap-crops of maize and Hibiscus are recommended, as well as the destruction of the moths after attraction to light at night. (See Professor Dunstan’s “British Cotton Cultivation,” pp. 35-6.)
The British Cotton Growing Association commenced work in Northern Nigeria by erecting a steam ginnery at Lokoja, followed by others at Ogudu and Zaria. The natives of the Bassa Province were induced to grow cotton upon a larger scale than before by the favourable market established near them at Lokoja, but, although the cotton brought in was generally of good quality, the supply fell off after the first year or two, and in 1908 it almost ceased. More recently there has been some return to cultivation, but the people are difficult to get into touch with, and have few needs which can be supplied by the traders, so that they have remained somewhat inactive and shy.
The ginnery at Ogudu acted as an inducement to the people of North Ilorin (Shari) to undertake cotton-growing upon an increased scale, and as the inhabitants are chiefly of a more intelligent class (Yorubas and Nupes) than the Bassa people, the cultivation of cotton developed well.
The opening of the Baro-Kano Railway created some activity in cotton growing, and satisfactory quantities were brought in to the northern ginneries. The British Cotton Growing Association will probably succeed well in the northern parts of the country where a large rural population is to be found.
An example of the development of cotton cultivation in West Africa, influenced by and following the opening of a railway, is seen in the Western Province of Southern Nigeria and in Ilorin; along almost the entire route of the line the agricultural population have taken up the cultivation of the plant. This has occurred even in those districts where other natural products were available for utilisation to a remunerative degree. It is therefore probable that the industrious population of the Northern Provinces, who have no such advantages, owing to the absence of oil palms, rubber, etc., would readily adopt cotton-growing upon a commercial scale.
The Baro-Kano Railway passes, however, through an extensive tract of thinly populated country before reaching the localities from which a large supply can be reasonably expected, and this may delay the actual results. It would be inadvisable, in the meantime, to encourage cotton cultivation in those districts which are still remote, unless it were possible to buy the crops in advance of any prospective railway extension.
The following statistical statement has been supplied by the British Cotton Growing Association, showing the production in bales from their ginneries, 1906-1909:
| Year. | Lokoja. | Ogudu. | Total. | Weight of Bale. | Approx. lbs. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1906. Sept. 1st, 1905, to Aug. 31st, 1906 | 903 | 903 | about 200 lbs. | 180,600 | |
| 1907. 16 months. Sept. 1st, 1906, to Dec. 12th, 1907 | 1,067 | 815 | 1,882 | 200 lbs. each | 376,400 |
| 239 | 239 | 400 lbs. each | 95,600 | ||
| 1908 | 84 | 147 | 231 | 400 lbs. each | 92,400 |
| 1909. 8 months. To Aug. 31st, 1909 | 133 | 246 | 379 | 400 lbs. each | 151,600 |
In 1908 the rainfall was deficient in a large part of the country, and the cotton crop, among others, suffered in consequence. A temporary check to cotton-growing in Ilorin province occurred in 1909 due to the demand for labour for the railway construction, and a subsequent one occasioned by the war; but in spite of this, the increase of cotton in Nigeria is to be attributed largely to developments in the Northern Provinces. Cf. Bull. Imp. Inst., vol. x., p. 480, and vol. xi. pp. 70, 165 and 656.[12]
CAPSICUMS.—An increasing export trade seems to be becoming established in red peppers and chillies (Capsicum annuum and C. frutescens), plants which thrive well in West Africa.