The shift from subsistence economy to cash crop economy in the gold coast 1870-1920

Abstract EN

The late nineteenth century and the early twentieth brought radical changes to the African economies, and the former British colony of the Gold Coast was no exception.

The shift of the local farmers to the production of cash crops resulted in an abandonment of the production of food crops, which had a serious impact on food self-sufficiency of the local people.

This research attempts to find out the reasons which transformed the Gold Coast from a food exporter to a food importer, and to determine the degree of responsibility for the new situation of the local farmers, the missionaries, the expatriate firms, and the colonial government at both the local and metropolitan levels.