Food crops as cash crops: the case of colonial Kigezi, Uganda

This article examines the case of Kigezi, where colonial efforts to introduce cash crops such as coffee and tobacco consistently failed. It argues that Kigezi farmers already had cash-earning crops, which were food crops. These were widely produced and traded in the pre-colonial and colonial periods, and the strength and vibrancy of this trade helps to explain the problems the colonial state encountered when it tried to introduce cash crops. Marketing policies introduced by the colonial state for different cash crops in Kigezi served only to discourage cash-crop production there, in contrast to food production.