Peasant farming, the state, and food security in the north-western province of Zambia, 1902--1964

grantor: University of TorontoThis study has demonstrated that in spite of state neglect and suppression at certain historical times, most of the peasants of North-Western province remained relatively food secure in colonial Zambia largely due to their resilience, initiative, and industriousness. The designation of the province as a labor reservoir made it a backwater in the territory's socio-economic and political configuration. This made it imperative that individual households become more resourceful in food production and/or acquisition. Local subsistence producers responded accordingly and adapted to neglect and, at times, contributed to the territory's food needs. To demonstrate the resilience of the local peasantry, and trends in food supply in the province, the study examines the origin, nature, extent, and consequences of the link between the local traditional agricultural economy, British South Africa Company, Crown government, Federal government, and the large mining network of Belgian Congo, Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and South Africa between 1902 and 1964. Specifically, the study appraises the viability of the local agricultural economy in the sustenance of the peoples in the province, and its significance in the territory's political economy. The study critically analyzes the impact of ecological constraints, and the role of the colonial state/finance capital vis-a-vis local food supply, and peasant reaction thereto. It explores food security strategies, and survival strategies peasant farmers pursued to maintain and regain their food security, respectively. It also examines the role women and their children played in household food supply when men were coerced into labor migration. While past studies have variously examined the impact of the state, finance capital, colonial taxation, male labor migration, colonial legislation, market forces, and ecological constraints on food supply among societies in Sub-Saharan Africa, this study adds another dimension to the debate. It examines how colonized African societies, living in an official labor reservoir, remained resilient and relatively food secure against a backdrop of monumental constraints stacked against them.Ph.D