International African Institute

Adapting to Drought: Farmers, Famines and Desertification in West Africa by MichaelMortimoreReview by: Tony AllanAfrica: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 60, No. 1 (1990), pp. 153-154Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International African InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1160435 .

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BOOK REVIEWS BOOK REVIEWS

unfortunately it does not succeed. This is due both to the size and infinite diversity of the subject as well as to the limited knowledge that is available to date. Hence, the attempt presented here has resulted in guesswork, too many generalisations and oversimplification. Prussin uses secondhand information almost exclusively while the serious reader will search in vain for her own material collected in the field. Furthermore, the author selected mostly facts, and sometimes fiction, which suited her own way of thinking, while neglecting important evidence that did not fit her theories. This is thus a book which I cannot recommend to newcomers to the subject, though in spite of the many shortcomings, the author makes some valuable points and suggestions.

F. W. SCHWERDTFEGER

Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria

MICHAEL MORTIMORE, Adapting to Drought: farmers, famines and desertification in West Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989, xii + 299 pp., 43 maps and diagrams, ?30.00 ($54.50) hardback, ISBN 0 521 323126.

This is an excellent and well-researched book reflecting comprehensive, lengthy, but above all imaginative scholarship. It is a testament to the devotion of Michael Mortimore and his very thorough studies of the environment of West Africa and especially of northern Nigeria where he has spent so much of the past two decades. The value of his residence in the field for such a long period is evident on almost every page of the study and makes the book uniquely valuable to anyone wanting to gain an overall perspective on land degradation in West Africa and on its social and economic consequences.

The author insists that any attempt to measure the rate and extent of desertification should be specific to time and place and that a simplified definition of desertification as 'the degradation of ecosystems in arid and semi-arid regions' has theoretical and practical advantages. He also refers to a number of different types of drought, to meteorological drought and to hydrological drought as well as to the environmental and ecological consequences of man's mismanagement of soil, water and vegetation resources. All these factors can bring about the degradation often referred to as desertification and because the issues are so multi-variate the field evidence is often ambiguous and even on occasions contradictory. He concludes that it is only by looking very carefully at such evidence on a wide variety of scales that it is possible to distinguish the relative importance of meteorological and management factors. As he has lived for much of the 1970s and the 1980s in West Africa, two decades of significantly deficient rainfall with respect to the long-term average, his view that the conventional wisdom that has emphasised the role of 'over-exploitation' at the expense of meterological drought should be questioned has particular force.

The book initially defines the environmental and socio-economic terms of the debate and describes the long-term features of the climate of the region and its recent environmental history. The impact of the drought of the early 1970s is examined on the basis of the experience of five villages; a longer time frame is considered in a thirteen-year study of a single village for the period up to 1986. These chapters show how people perceive drought and compare current with past circumstances and how they devise their strategies for survival. One responsive strategy is to move: this option is examined in a chapter on mobility at various scales, the village, the region and in one major reception area (that of Kano city). The last two chapters evaluate the capacity of systems and communities to adapt to worsening conditions and the consequences of ecological degradation, and discuss policies which could ameliorate

unfortunately it does not succeed. This is due both to the size and infinite diversity of the subject as well as to the limited knowledge that is available to date. Hence, the attempt presented here has resulted in guesswork, too many generalisations and oversimplification. Prussin uses secondhand information almost exclusively while the serious reader will search in vain for her own material collected in the field. Furthermore, the author selected mostly facts, and sometimes fiction, which suited her own way of thinking, while neglecting important evidence that did not fit her theories. This is thus a book which I cannot recommend to newcomers to the subject, though in spite of the many shortcomings, the author makes some valuable points and suggestions.

F. W. SCHWERDTFEGER

Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria

MICHAEL MORTIMORE, Adapting to Drought: farmers, famines and desertification in West Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989, xii + 299 pp., 43 maps and diagrams, ?30.00 ($54.50) hardback, ISBN 0 521 323126.

This is an excellent and well-researched book reflecting comprehensive, lengthy, but above all imaginative scholarship. It is a testament to the devotion of Michael Mortimore and his very thorough studies of the environment of West Africa and especially of northern Nigeria where he has spent so much of the past two decades. The value of his residence in the field for such a long period is evident on almost every page of the study and makes the book uniquely valuable to anyone wanting to gain an overall perspective on land degradation in West Africa and on its social and economic consequences.

The author insists that any attempt to measure the rate and extent of desertification should be specific to time and place and that a simplified definition of desertification as 'the degradation of ecosystems in arid and semi-arid regions' has theoretical and practical advantages. He also refers to a number of different types of drought, to meteorological drought and to hydrological drought as well as to the environmental and ecological consequences of man's mismanagement of soil, water and vegetation resources. All these factors can bring about the degradation often referred to as desertification and because the issues are so multi-variate the field evidence is often ambiguous and even on occasions contradictory. He concludes that it is only by looking very carefully at such evidence on a wide variety of scales that it is possible to distinguish the relative importance of meteorological and management factors. As he has lived for much of the 1970s and the 1980s in West Africa, two decades of significantly deficient rainfall with respect to the long-term average, his view that the conventional wisdom that has emphasised the role of 'over-exploitation' at the expense of meterological drought should be questioned has particular force.

The book initially defines the environmental and socio-economic terms of the debate and describes the long-term features of the climate of the region and its recent environmental history. The impact of the drought of the early 1970s is examined on the basis of the experience of five villages; a longer time frame is considered in a thirteen-year study of a single village for the period up to 1986. These chapters show how people perceive drought and compare current with past circumstances and how they devise their strategies for survival. One responsive strategy is to move: this option is examined in a chapter on mobility at various scales, the village, the region and in one major reception area (that of Kano city). The last two chapters evaluate the capacity of systems and communities to adapt to worsening conditions and the consequences of ecological degradation, and discuss policies which could ameliorate

153 153

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BOOK REVIEWS BOOK REVIEWS

the condition of populations in increasingly difficult circumstances, policies such as insurance, diversification and intensification.

One can only recommend the book very highly. It is courageous in attempting a broad study while incorporating detailed case study material and it is a very successful attempt to analyse the relative importance of environmental and management factors in explaining the degradation of soil, water and especially of vegetation in arid and semi-arid West Africa. It will provide basic reading for anyone in government, international agencies, the consulting community or universities wanting to under- stand contemporary West Africa and its development options.

TONY ALLAN

School of Oriental and African Studies University of London

T. FALOLA and JULIUS O. IHONVBERE (eds.), Nigeria and the International Capitalist System. Boulder: Rienner, 1988, 154 pp., ?17.50, ISBN 1 55587 087 2.

The authors of this book challenge the orthodox approach to the study and analysis of foreign policy and international relations. Instead of a methodology which denies the existence of class struggle and the relationship between economics and politics, a political-economic or materialist approach is adopted, which emphasises the substruc- ture (local dynamics) as the focal point of analysis by referring to the effects of historical development and experience on external relations, the effects of the growth and organisation of social forces on external policies, and the impact of local power of foreign capital on foreign policy.

The periods selected for this study are the most important in Nigeria's political history. Segun Osoba's article, 'The economic background of Balewa's foreign policy, 1960-1965' (pp. 15-32), examines the neocolonial relationship between Nigeria and Britain. While Osoba advocates a drastic change in Nigeria's 'colonial socio-economic and political structure' and diversification of its trade and aid, including an aggressive display of independence, he admits that the course he is advocating was fraught with danger because of the reactions of Western powers. Nigeria's leaders are criticised for not being prepared to take the kind of risks taken by Tanzania's Nyerere, Ghana's Nkrumah, Guinea's Sekou Toure and Egypt's Nasser. One is not exactly sure of Osoba's point here. It would have been helpful if Nigeria's ability to sustain such risks had been examined.

Falola and Ihonvbere direct their attention to 'The economy, the Civil War and Nigeria's foreign policy, 1967-1970', while Akanmu Gafaru Adebayo's contributions are perhaps the best in this book. He analyses the 'Postwar economy and foreign policy, Gowon and the oil boom 1970-1975'. While oil constituted 25 per cent of total revenue in 1970, its share rose to 80-8 per cent by 1974. The victim of this huge oil export level was the agricultural sector which dropped below 30 per cent of national output.

Other important chapters include 'Oil and the Murtala/Obasanjo foreign policy, 1975-1979' (pp. 81-100), 'Shagari: oil and foreign policy in the Second Republic, 1979-1983' (pp. 103-18), and 'The economy and foreign policy since 1984' (pp. 121- 8). This final chapter appeals for the achievement of self-reliance for the purpose 'of consistent, anti-imperialist foreign policy'.

This book is a critical examination of Nigeria's foreign policy. It suggests that foreign business interests would not have succeeded in their penetration and domination of Nigeria's economy and foreign policy without the collaboration of local

the condition of populations in increasingly difficult circumstances, policies such as insurance, diversification and intensification.

One can only recommend the book very highly. It is courageous in attempting a broad study while incorporating detailed case study material and it is a very successful attempt to analyse the relative importance of environmental and management factors in explaining the degradation of soil, water and especially of vegetation in arid and semi-arid West Africa. It will provide basic reading for anyone in government, international agencies, the consulting community or universities wanting to under- stand contemporary West Africa and its development options.

TONY ALLAN

School of Oriental and African Studies University of London

T. FALOLA and JULIUS O. IHONVBERE (eds.), Nigeria and the International Capitalist System. Boulder: Rienner, 1988, 154 pp., ?17.50, ISBN 1 55587 087 2.

The authors of this book challenge the orthodox approach to the study and analysis of foreign policy and international relations. Instead of a methodology which denies the existence of class struggle and the relationship between economics and politics, a political-economic or materialist approach is adopted, which emphasises the substruc- ture (local dynamics) as the focal point of analysis by referring to the effects of historical development and experience on external relations, the effects of the growth and organisation of social forces on external policies, and the impact of local power of foreign capital on foreign policy.

The periods selected for this study are the most important in Nigeria's political history. Segun Osoba's article, 'The economic background of Balewa's foreign policy, 1960-1965' (pp. 15-32), examines the neocolonial relationship between Nigeria and Britain. While Osoba advocates a drastic change in Nigeria's 'colonial socio-economic and political structure' and diversification of its trade and aid, including an aggressive display of independence, he admits that the course he is advocating was fraught with danger because of the reactions of Western powers. Nigeria's leaders are criticised for not being prepared to take the kind of risks taken by Tanzania's Nyerere, Ghana's Nkrumah, Guinea's Sekou Toure and Egypt's Nasser. One is not exactly sure of Osoba's point here. It would have been helpful if Nigeria's ability to sustain such risks had been examined.

Falola and Ihonvbere direct their attention to 'The economy, the Civil War and Nigeria's foreign policy, 1967-1970', while Akanmu Gafaru Adebayo's contributions are perhaps the best in this book. He analyses the 'Postwar economy and foreign policy, Gowon and the oil boom 1970-1975'. While oil constituted 25 per cent of total revenue in 1970, its share rose to 80-8 per cent by 1974. The victim of this huge oil export level was the agricultural sector which dropped below 30 per cent of national output.

Other important chapters include 'Oil and the Murtala/Obasanjo foreign policy, 1975-1979' (pp. 81-100), 'Shagari: oil and foreign policy in the Second Republic, 1979-1983' (pp. 103-18), and 'The economy and foreign policy since 1984' (pp. 121- 8). This final chapter appeals for the achievement of self-reliance for the purpose 'of consistent, anti-imperialist foreign policy'.

This book is a critical examination of Nigeria's foreign policy. It suggests that foreign business interests would not have succeeded in their penetration and domination of Nigeria's economy and foreign policy without the collaboration of local

154 154

This content downloaded from 194.29.185.25 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 15:51:35 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions