Annual report on Nigeria / Colonial Office.

  • Great Britain. Colonial Office.
Date:
[1949]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on Nigeria / Colonial Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    46/134 (page 44)
    Palm kernels are subject to inspection for impurities and the quality throughout the year was satisfactory. Cocoa. The total 1948-49 crop amounted to 107,000 tons as com¬ pared with 75,000 tons in the 1947-48 season. The 1948-49 season was one of the most productive for many years ; its most notable feature was the great improvement in quality. This was largely due to the Nigeria Cocoa Marketing Board’s price policy of placing a substantial premium on the higher grades. The work of the produce inspection service also contributed materially to this improvement in quality. During the year there was a marked drop in world prices for cocoa and, with the opening of the 1949-50 season on 23rd September, the revised producer prices already announced by the Nigeria Cocoa Marketing Board came into effect. The 1949-50 prices, as com¬ pared with the previous season’s prices, are as follows : Standard weight cocoa Light Crop Cocoa Main Crop per ton. Per ton. 1948-49 1949-50 1948-49 1949-50 Grade I . £120 £100 £n5 £95 Grade II . 115 95 no 90 Grade Ill 105 75 100 70 Grade IV . 90 85 In pursuance of its policy for the improvement of the quality of Nigerian cocoa, the Nigeria Cocoa Marketing Board has ceased to purchase Grade IV cocoa and has announced that, after the present (1949-50) season, Grade III cocoa will not be purchased. Cotton. During the 1948-49 cotton season 47,903 bales of 400 lb. were purchased and ginned for export compared with the previous year’s total of 18,442 bales. Stimulated by the advance in price of seed cotton to 4d. per lb. payable at all markets a substantially increased acreage was sown in 1949 absorbing a record distribution of 7>576 tons of seed which represents an increase of 17 per cent over the previous year. Unfortunately the poor growing season is likely to result in reduced average yields and it is anticipated that the total crop will not greatly exceed 40,000 bales of 400 lb. each. Benniseed. Planting of benniseed in Benue Province continues to expand as a result of the 1947 and 1948 increases in price, but it is anticipated that the 1949 increase in acreage will be largely offset by reduced yields. The total tonnage purchased in 1948 was 15,642 which is more than double the 7,669 tons bought the previous year. The price increased from £18 to £20 per ton flat rate for all buying stations during the year. Other Crops. Rice cultivation continues to grow in popularity and in 1949 the crop yields were well above the average. In the Western Region an increased acreage of upland rice is reported, while in the Eastern Region special attention is being paid to the