The hardships inflicted on the native, however, are forgotten by the German trader in his excessive eagerness to get as much as he can out of him; and this has resulted in some rubber-collecting districts in depopulation and a consequent falling off in the production.
The principal exports of Togoland are india-rubber, palm-oil and kernels, cotton and cocoa. Tobacco is also being tried with favourable results.
Rubber forms nearly one-half of the total exports, and is nearly all wild rubber collected by natives from the forest vines—an expensive form of production, as the vines are destroyed in the process.
Palm-oil and palm kernels (largely used in the manufacture of nut butter or margarine) forms another important item. The nuts are collected mainly from the palms originally introduced by the Portuguese and now found in forests for many miles from the coast.
In 1911 the export of palm kernels amounted to 13,000 tons, but fell to 7,000 tons in 1913 owing to a scarcity of native labour.
The natives of Togoland are said to have cultivated cotton in almost every part of the country from time immemorial, and an average of about 500 tons is exported annually.
The Germans, realising the importance of this article, did all they could to extend the cultivation of cotton. The cultivation is entirely in the hands of natives, but an agricultural school was started for them by the Government to train them in better methods of growing cotton, and they were supplied with ploughs and other agricultural implements as well as seed, free of cost.
A certain amount of cocoa is grown on native plantations, 335 tons being shipped during 1913. The natives have also taken kindly to a new crop in the shape of maize, the export of which rose from 103 tons in 1911 to 2,500 in 1913.