The tractor as a tool of development? The mythologies and legacies of mechanised tropical agriculture in French Africa, 1944 –56
The tractor as a tool of development? The mythologies and legacies of mechanised tropical agriculture in French Africa, 1944 –56
After the Second World War, the “mechanical climate” that dominated the new French Union guided the elaboration of ambitious development plans for the colonies. In line with the new interventionist policy of the colonial state, a large-scale mechanization program of tropical agriculture was designed under the control of metropolitan experts. It offered the promise of a technicist solution to the concomitant issues of raw materials, labour and erosion. In the end, however, it turned out to be a total disaster – from the technical, economic and environmental points of view. Based on the study of the genesis of this “mechanization plan”, this chapter considers the critical and expertise dynamics engendered by the field problems. It shows that, surprisingly enough, it is from the wreckage of this failed great project and through the confrontation with criticisms and obstacles that the tractor became a privileged tool of development.
Keywords: Tropical agriculture, French West Africa, Mechanization, Tractor, Development experts, Development plans, Development projects, Post-war colonial development
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