Oil palm development in Dahomey/Benin : a socio-environmental history (1894-1978)

Abstract

This thesis analyses the history of oil palm development in Dahomey/Benin since the French conquest of the territory until the late 1970s, with a particular focus on its socio-environmental consequences. In particular, it seeks to answer the question of why decades of efforts to increase the productivity of what was considered the country’s main wealth have not led to its prosperity. It also aims to illustrate the material and social impacts of the various development projects. Thus, the dissertation argues for the importance of the environment as a crucial subject of any history of development, while trying to take into account as much as possible the role played by actors involved 'on the ground', and by economic interests and policies 'above'. Treating development as an inherently multifaceted topic, this dissertation provides new insights into the environmental, social and colonial history of Dahomey, as well as to the economic history of the country and of palm products in general. It begins with the attempts made by French traders and the colonial administration to increase the production of the palm groves at the beginning of the twentieth century, and describes how they evolved after the First World War, when African palm products had to face Asian competition. It analyses the instruments adopted to implement the colony’s first development plan during the Great Depression, based on the selection of improved palm trees and the mechanisation of extraction, and its impact during the 1930s and the war years. It then analyses the increasingly ambitious efforts of the French in the 1950s, when the first large oil mills were built. Finally, it examines the implementation and impact on Dahomean society and the environment of the schemes carried out by independent Dahomey and funded by international development agencies and France in the 1960s and 1970s.