"Rubber will not keep in this country": Failed development in Benin, 1897-1921.

Although Nigeria’s Benin region was a major rubber producer in 1960, the industry developed slowly. The colonial government encouraged rubber production from 1897 until 1921, when it abandoned the industry as a failure. I explain why rubber did not take hold in this period. The government was unable to protect Benin’s rubber forests from over-exploitation. Expatriate firms were reticent to invest in plantations, and private African plantations remained small to 1921. The colonial government promoted the development of “communal” plantations, but these suffered from labor scarcity, a weak state, limited information, and global competition