The Boom and Bust of Zululand Cotton, 1910-1933

This article investigates the boom and bust of the largest cotton surge in South African history, which occurred in the years following Union. Cotton figured as a preferred crop within emerging national agricultural policy because it accorded with the political and ideological priorities of the new white settler state. By the late 1920s, however, cotton was in trouble, especially in the key Zululand growing area. There were two reasons for this dramatic downturn. The first stemmed from the social relations of production underpinning cotton-growing ventures: the Zululand boom enticed ill-suited settlers to cultivate a crop most knew precious little about. Cotton's expansion into Zululand was poorly conceived and executed: officials and farmers selected unsuitable land, transport was inadequate, the labour supply was intermittent and insufficient. The second reason was the more trenchant issue of ecological incompatibility, which compounded mistakes in planning and production. Poor agricultural decision-making exacerbated environmental constraints to production, undermining Zululand cotton's fortunes

Agricultural economics · Agriculture · Archaeology · Boom · Bust · Economics · Economy · Geography · Ideology · Political science · Politics · Recession · African history and culture studies · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Engineering · Law · South African History and Culture