Agricultural History Review, Volume 69 Part 1 (2021), pp. 97–110

This paper highlights changes in the agricultural economy of western Nigeria between the 1850s and the 1920s, a period that witnessed the transition from indigenous rule to British colonial rule. It focuses on differential access to land, types of agricultural labour, the size of individual farm plots, and the type and destination of farm produce. Examining farm sizes in the indigenous agricultural system of western Nigeria, the paper demonstrates that continuity and contrasts in agricultural practice in the era of indigenous rule and under colonial domination may be explained by changes in the political economy, and the cost of, and access to, land and labour. These changes also accounted for the steady reduction in the average farm size since the pre-colonial period. 

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