Disjunctures in theory and practice: Making sense of change in agricultural development at the office du Niger, 1920-60

Journal of African History

Volumn 41, Issue 1, 2000, Pages 79-99

  Van Beusekom, Monica M ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0012682767     PISSN: 00218537     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0021853799007550     Document Type: Article

References (89)

1. Frederick Cooper and Randall Packard, 'Introduction', in Cooper and Packard (eds.), International Development and the Social Sciences : Essays on the History and Politics of Knowledge (Berkeley, 1997), 1-41.
2. Arturo Escobar, Encountering Development : The Making and Unmaking of the Third World (Princeton, 1995); James Ferguson, The Anti-Politics Machine: 'Development', Depoliticization and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho (Minneapolis, 1994 [1990]), esp. 258 ff; Wolfgang Sachs (ed.), The Development Dictionary (London, 1992).
3. Arturo Escobar, Encountering Development : The Making and Unmaking of the Third World (Princeton, 1995); James Ferguson, The Anti-Politics Machine: 'Development', Depoliticization and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho (Minneapolis, 1994 [1990]), esp. 258 ff; Wolfgang Sachs (ed.), The Development Dictionary (London, 1992).
4. Arturo Escobar, Encountering Development : The Making and Unmaking of the Third World (Princeton, 1995); James Ferguson, The Anti-Politics Machine: 'Development', Depoliticization and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho (Minneapolis, 1994 [1990]), esp. 258 ff; Wolfgang Sachs (ed.), The Development Dictionary (London, 1992).
5. Christophe Bonneuil, Des savants pour l'empire : La structuration des recherches scientifiques coloniales au temps de 'la mise en valeur' des colonies françaises 1917-1945 (Paris, 1991); Martha Finnemore, 'Redefining development at the World Bank', 203-27 and Kathryn Sikkink, 'Development ideas in Latin America: paradigm shifts and the Economic Commission for Latin America', in Cooper and Packard, International Development and the Social Sciences, 228-56.
6. Christophe Bonneuil, Des savants pour l'empire : La structuration des recherches scientifiques coloniales au temps de 'la mise en valeur' des colonies françaises 1917-1945 (Paris, 1991); Martha Finnemore, 'Redefining development at the World Bank', 203-27 and Kathryn Sikkink, 'Development ideas in Latin America: paradigm shifts and the Economic Commission for Latin America', in Cooper and Packard, International Development and the Social Sciences, 228-56.
7. Christophe Bonneuil, Des savants pour l'empire : La structuration des recherches scientifiques coloniales au temps de 'la mise en valeur' des colonies françaises 1917-1945 (Paris, 1991); Martha Finnemore, 'Redefining development at the World Bank', 203-27 and Kathryn Sikkink, 'Development ideas in Latin America: paradigm shifts and the Economic Commission for Latin America', in Cooper and Packard, International Development and the Social Sciences, 228-56.
8. Cooper and Packard, 'Introduction', 18.
9. On anti-erosion efforts in British Africa see, for example: David Anderson, 'Depression, Dust Bowl, demography and drought: the colonial state and soil conservation in East Africa during the 19303', African Affairs, 83 (1984), 321-43; David Anderson and Andrew Millington, 'Political ecology of soil conservation in anglophone Africa', in A. C. Millington, S. K. Mutiso and J. A. Bins (eds.), African Resources, II, Management (Geographical Papers, 37), (Reading, 1987), 48-59; William Beinart, 'Soil erosion, conservationism and ideas about development: a southern African exploration', Journal of Southern African Studies, 11 (1984), 52-83; John McCracken, 'Experts and expertise in Malawi', African Affairs, 81 (1982), 101-16; Steven Feierman, Peasant Intellectuals (Madison, 1990), ch. 7. On irrigation, see studies of the Office du Niger irrigation scheme cited below and studies of the Gezira scheme in Sudan, such as Tony Barnett, The Gezira Scheme : An Illusion of Development (London, 1977).
10. On anti-erosion efforts in British Africa see, for example: David Anderson, 'Depression, Dust Bowl, demography and drought: the colonial state and soil conservation in East Africa during the 19303', African Affairs, 83 (1984), 321-43; David Anderson and Andrew Millington, 'Political ecology of soil conservation in anglophone Africa', in A. C. Millington, S. K. Mutiso and J. A. Bins (eds.), African Resources, II, Management (Geographical Papers, 37), (Reading, 1987), 48-59; William Beinart, 'Soil erosion, conservationism and ideas about development: a southern African exploration', Journal of Southern African Studies, 11 (1984), 52-83; John McCracken, 'Experts and expertise in Malawi', African Affairs, 81 (1982), 101-16; Steven Feierman, Peasant Intellectuals (Madison, 1990), ch. 7. On irrigation, see studies of the Office du Niger irrigation scheme cited below and studies of the Gezira scheme in Sudan, such as Tony Barnett, The Gezira Scheme : An Illusion of Development (London, 1977).
11. On anti-erosion efforts in British Africa see, for example: David Anderson, 'Depression, Dust Bowl, demography and drought: the colonial state and soil conservation in East Africa during the 19303', African Affairs, 83 (1984), 321-43; David Anderson and Andrew Millington, 'Political ecology of soil conservation in anglophone Africa', in A. C. Millington, S. K. Mutiso and J. A. Bins (eds.), African Resources, II, Management (Geographical Papers, 37), (Reading, 1987), 48-59; William Beinart, 'Soil erosion, conservationism and ideas about development: a southern African exploration', Journal of Southern African Studies, 11 (1984), 52-83; John McCracken, 'Experts and expertise in Malawi', African Affairs, 81 (1982), 101-16; Steven Feierman, Peasant Intellectuals (Madison, 1990), ch. 7. On irrigation, see studies of the Office du Niger irrigation scheme cited below and studies of the Gezira scheme in Sudan, such as Tony Barnett, The Gezira Scheme : An Illusion of Development (London, 1977).
12. On anti-erosion efforts in British Africa see, for example: David Anderson, 'Depression, Dust Bowl, demography and drought: the colonial state and soil conservation in East Africa during the 19303', African Affairs, 83 (1984), 321-43; David Anderson and Andrew Millington, 'Political ecology of soil conservation in anglophone Africa', in A. C. Millington, S. K. Mutiso and J. A. Bins (eds.), African Resources, II, Management (Geographical Papers, 37), (Reading, 1987), 48-59; William Beinart, 'Soil erosion, conservationism and ideas about development: a southern African exploration', Journal of Southern African Studies, 11 (1984), 52-83; John McCracken, 'Experts and expertise in Malawi', African Affairs, 81 (1982), 101-16; Steven Feierman, Peasant Intellectuals (Madison, 1990), ch. 7. On irrigation, see studies of the Office du Niger irrigation scheme cited below and studies of the Gezira scheme in Sudan, such as Tony Barnett, The Gezira Scheme : An Illusion of Development (London, 1977).
13. On anti-erosion efforts in British Africa see, for example: David Anderson, 'Depression, Dust Bowl, demography and drought: the colonial state and soil conservation in East Africa during the 19303', African Affairs, 83 (1984), 321-43; David Anderson and Andrew Millington, 'Political ecology of soil conservation in anglophone Africa', in A. C. Millington, S. K. Mutiso and J. A. Bins (eds.), African Resources, II, Management (Geographical Papers, 37), (Reading, 1987), 48-59; William Beinart, 'Soil erosion, conservationism and ideas about development: a southern African exploration', Journal of Southern African Studies, 11 (1984), 52-83; John McCracken, 'Experts and expertise in Malawi', African Affairs, 81 (1982), 101-16; Steven Feierman, Peasant Intellectuals (Madison, 1990), ch. 7. On irrigation, see studies of the Office du Niger irrigation scheme cited below and studies of the Gezira scheme in Sudan, such as Tony Barnett, The Gezira Scheme : An Illusion of Development (London, 1977).
14. On anti-erosion efforts in British Africa see, for example: David Anderson, 'Depression, Dust Bowl, demography and drought: the colonial state and soil conservation in East Africa during the 19303', African Affairs, 83 (1984), 321-43; David Anderson and Andrew Millington, 'Political ecology of soil conservation in anglophone Africa', in A. C. Millington, S. K. Mutiso and J. A. Bins (eds.), African Resources, II, Management (Geographical Papers, 37), (Reading, 1987), 48-59; William Beinart, 'Soil erosion, conservationism and ideas about development: a southern African exploration', Journal of Southern African Studies, 11 (1984), 52-83; John McCracken, 'Experts and expertise in Malawi', African Affairs, 81 (1982), 101-16; Steven Feierman, Peasant Intellectuals (Madison, 1990), ch. 7. On irrigation, see studies of the Office du Niger irrigation scheme cited below and studies of the Gezira scheme in Sudan, such as Tony Barnett, The Gezira Scheme : An Illusion of Development (London, 1977).
15. On this social evolutionist model, see Monica M. van Beusekom, 'Colonisation indigène: French rural development ideology at the Office du Niger', International Journal of African Historical Studies, 30 (1997), 299-323.
16. For detailed discussions of lobbying on behalf of the Niger irrigation scheme and the creation of the Office du Niger, see Jean Filipovich, 'The Office du Niger under colonial rule: its origins, evolution and character (1920-1960)', (Ph.D. dissertation, McGill University, 1985) and Emil Schreyger, L'Office du Niger au Mali 1932 à 1982: La problématique d'une grande entreprise agricole dans la zone du Sahel (Weisbaden, 1984).
17. For detailed discussions of lobbying on behalf of the Niger irrigation scheme and the creation of the Office du Niger, see Jean Filipovich, 'The Office du Niger under colonial rule: its origins, evolution and character (1920-1960)', (Ph.D. dissertation, McGill University, 1985) and Emil Schreyger, L'Office du Niger au Mali 1932 à 1982: La problématique d'une grande entreprise agricole dans la zone du Sahel (Weisbaden, 1984).
18. Labor issues were the focus of critiques of Belime's original plan. See Emile Bélime, Les irrigations du Niger : Discussions et controverses (Paris, n.d. [192201- 1923]); Filipovich, 'The Office du Niger', ch. 1 and 2 . For an analysis of labor issues in the context of colonial cotton policy, including the Office du Niger, see Richard L. Roberts, Two Worlds of Cotton : Colonialism and the Regional Economy in the French Soudan (Stanford, 1996), esp. ch. 7.
19. Labor issues were the focus of critiques of Belime's original plan. See Emile Bélime, Les irrigations du Niger : Discussions et controverses (Paris, n.d. [192201- 1923]); Filipovich, 'The Office du Niger', ch. 1 and 2 . For an analysis of labor issues in the context of colonial cotton policy, including the Office du Niger, see Richard L. Roberts, Two Worlds of Cotton : Colonialism and the Regional Economy in the French Soudan (Stanford, 1996), esp. ch. 7.
20. Labor issues were the focus of critiques of Belime's original plan. See Emile Bélime, Les irrigations du Niger : Discussions et controverses (Paris, n.d. [192201- 1923]); Filipovich, 'The Office du Niger', ch. 1 and 2 . For an analysis of labor issues in the context of colonial cotton policy, including the Office du Niger, see Richard L. Roberts, Two Worlds of Cotton : Colonialism and the Regional Economy in the French Soudan (Stanford, 1996), esp. ch. 7.
21. Roberts, in Two Worlds of Cotton, delineates two approaches to colonial cotton production : a pro-peasant, rain-fed approach and an irrigation approach whose advocates assumed that France had 'the technical power to control both nature and labor' (p. 118) and who thought Africans 'needed to be disciplined into productive workers' (p. 288). My distinction between a small-scale (rain-fed and floodplain irrigation) and large-scale (Office du Niger) approach to development is somewhat different. Both small and large-scale approaches championed the idea of an African peasantry and of family rather than wage labor. Both approaches were social evolutionary, relying on a similar model of a 'modern' cultivator who engaged in intensive plow agriculture. They differed on the question of relocating farmers and on the degree of respect they typically accorded to African farming methods.
22. Mission Bélime, Les irrigations du Niger : Études et projets (Paris, 1921), 17.
23. For an official articulation of colonisation indigène at the Office du Niger see M. Bauzil, Note sur les méthodes de colonisation indigène de l'Office du Niger (Office du Niger, 1938).
24. See van Beusekom, 'Colonisation indigène' for an in-depth discussion.
25. Monica M. van Beusekom, 'Colonial rural development: French policy and African response at the Office du Niger, Soudan Français (Mali), 1920-1960' (Ph.D. dissertation, Johns Hopkins University, 1989), 139-43.
26. Archives Nationales du Sénégal, Dakar (ANS)-AOF 7Q/147 Rapport Carbou, 1938.
27. These calculations are based only on the centers of Nyono, Kokri, and Baguinda. Nyenebale is not included because of the absence of arrival and departure data. See van Beusekom, 'Colonial rural development', 197-201.
28. See, for example, ANS-AOF 7Q/19 Rapport de mission, Carbou, 1938; ANS-AOF 7Q/83 Rapport no. 2 sur les villages de colonisation de l'Office du Niger, Madame Savineau, 15 Dec. 1937; ANS-AOF 7Q/19 Rapport sanitaire du médecin-commandant Martial, 25 Apr. 1938; ANS-AOF 7Q/83 Extrait du rapport sur le voyage de la mission d'inspection parlementaire en Afrique Occidentale Française du 20 Avril au 3 Mai 1938; Pierre Herbart, Le chancre du Niger (Paris, 1939).
29. van Beusekom, 'Colonial rural development', 103; ANS-AOF 7Q/11 Extrait du rapport Marchand, 1941.
30. Archives de l'Office du Niger, Ségou, (AON) 390 Office du Niger, Rapport annuel du Service de l'exploitation, 1944/5.
31. Amidu Magasa, Papa-commandant a jeté un grand filet devant nous : les exploités des rives du Niger, 1900-7962 (Paris, 1978), 105-6.
32. van Beusekom, 'Colonial rural development', 179.
33. Archives Nationales du Mali, Bamako (ANM) FR 1 R 42 Procès-verbal d'enquête, 18 Apr. 1944, Subdivision de Niono.
34. ANM FR 1 R 43 Télégramme-lettre 24 Apr. 1944 Cercle Ségou to Governor of Soudan; ANM FR 1 R 59 Rapport sur le peuplement des terres amenagées, 9 June 1944, Pruvost, Commissaire du Gouvernement auprès de l'Office du Niger.
35. Archives Nationales de la France, Outre-Mer, Aix-en-Provence (ANFOM) 11 AffEco 371/7 Ministère des Colonies, Direction du Plan, Conclusions de la Commission chargée d'étudier la situation de l'Office du Niger, 11 Aug. 1945.
36. The first collective protest that did not threaten flight occurred in June 1946 at Nyenebale. There settlers refused to perform certain tasks and at the same time insisted on changes in the Office's marketing and taxation policies. The protest lasted for about a year and in 1948 the Office gave up management of Nyenebale. During the 1950s, settlers at the main farming centers of Kokri and Nyono sought settler representation in policymaking. After attempts to restructure the Associations agricoles indigènes which nominally represented settlers' interests, settlers at Kokri formed a union in 1953. The union later spread to Nyono. By 1958, the union claimed 75 per cent of farmers at the Office as members. AON Rapport annuel Office du Niger 1946/7; ANM FR 1 R 43 Letter 12 Aug. 1946, Directeur Général Office du Niger to Gouverneur du Soudan; ANFOM 11 AffEco 371/7 Letter 30 July 1946, Sissoko to Controleur de Colonisation, Niénébalé; ANFOM 11 AffEco 371/3 Note sur les centres de Niénébalé et Baguinéda, 12 Mar. 1947; Interview with Mamadu Gologo, Bamako, 29 July 1986; AON 145 Procèsverbal, Conseil d'administration, 28 May 1958.
37. AON Rapport annuel 1947/48; AON 138 Rapport sur la situation de l'Office du Niger, Mar. 1956, Romani.
38. The estimated cost of an irrigated hectare at the Office in 1956/7 was 250,000 fcfa. Improvements to flood plain rice cultivation were estimated in 1954/5 to cost between 10,000 and 70,000 fcfa/ha. This difference in cost did not go unremarked. Also noted regularly throughout the 19505 was the fact that Office income - in the form of settlers' fees for irrigation and other services and profits on the processing and sale of the harvest - did not cover costs. The Office's financial problems were variously attributed to: mediocre harvests and an unwillingness of settlers to pay fees and sell their harvest to the Office; increasing salaries for salaried employees and wage laborers; an unwillingness to lay off superfluous labor; excessive dependence on mechanization; overlapping services. ANFOM 11 AffEco 370/6 Rapport Mouragues, Mar. 1959; ANFOM 11 AffEco 370/6 Rapport Romani, Dec. 1956; ANFOM SOM Br 6467 C Etude de problèmes de financement et d'organisation, Ségou, Apr. 1958.
39. In the 1950s, a number of simultaneous reforms in rural development programs reflected this turn toward a participatory rhetoric. In 1949, France allocated new funds for rural development under FERDES (Fonds d'equipement rural pour le développement économique et social). FERDES funds were to be used for projects requested by groups of people, and beneficiaries were required to contribute one-third of the value of agricultural or infrastructural improvements. With the second four-year modernization plan (1953-57) which was to emphasize rural production, the government of French West Africa gave considerable thought to how to organize rural people into cooperative-like institutions that would be less authoritarian than the much criticized Sociétés indigènes de prévoyance, but would be disciplined and efficient rural development institutions. Joseph-Roger de Benoist, L'Afrique occidentale française : De la conférence de Brazzaville (1944) à l'indépendence (1960) (Dakar, 1982); ANFOM 2 FIDES 158 Groupe de travail Développement économie rurale, 1955.
40. Annual reports show farmers at Nyenebale and Baguinda growing rice, peanuts, cotton, millet, manioc, garden crops and fruit trees. AON Rapports annuels, 1932-50.
41. AON Office du Niger, Rapport annuel, 1939; AON Office du Niger, Rapport annuel, 1941.
42. AON Office du Niger, Rapport annuel, 1941.
43. AON 390 Office du Niger, Rapport du Service de l'exploitation, 1944/5.
44. The sales of calabashes were substantial. In 1942/3, for example, when Kokri had some 7300 settlers it sold an estimated 40,000 calabashes. AON Office du Niger, Rapport annuel, 1942.
45. AON 116 Wibaux [Directeur Général, ON] to Président du Conseil d'administration, n.d. [1956]; AON 144 Office du Niger, Procès-verbal, Conseil d'administration, 16 May 1956.
46. AON 145 Office du Niger, Procès verbal, Conseil d'administration, 25 June 1959.
47. AON Office du Niger, Rapport annuel, 1959/60.
48. Mission socio-économique du Soudan (MISES), Enquête agricole dans le delta central nigérien (zone inondée - Office du Niger) ([Paris], 1959), 97. Office data for a later period indicates that the proportion of hors casiers declined from about 30 per cent of all land cultivated in 1950/1 to 22 percent in 1955/6. In 1950/1, Office settlers cultivated 25,700 ha of which 7,700 were rain-fed. In 1955/6, settlers planted 45,000 ha of which 10,000 were rain-fed. AON 141 Situation actuelle de l'Office du Niger, n.d. [1956 or 1957].
49. ANFOM 11 AffEco 371/4 Office du Niger, Rapport annuel, 1947/8.
50. AON Office du Niger, Rapports annuels, 1945/6, 1946/7, 1947/8, 1956/7, 1957/8.
51. AON 138 Rapport Situation Office du Niger, May 1956, Blondiaux.
52. AON 11 Vade Mecum de l'Instructeur; ANS 10G/19 Note, n.d. [1931], Nombre approximatif journées nécessaires pour culture mil.
53. Interview with Lasina Jara and Buacar Jara, Kayo-Bamana, 19 June 1986; interview with Umar Kone, Ke Masina, 11 June 1986; interview with Musa Kamina, Ke Masina, 10 June 1986.
54. Interview with Lasina Buare, Kokri (village), 13 June 1986.
55. AON Office du Niger, Rapport annuel, 1946/7.
56. Interview with Baba Kimbiri, Nyono (town), 9 July 1986; Interview with Amadu Wederawogo, 10/Siginwuse, 22 July 1986.
57. Jean Marie Kohler, Les Mosi de Kolongotomo et la collectivisation de l'Office du Niger (Paris, 1974), 35.
58. MISES, L'alimentation des populations rurales du delta vif du Niger et de l'Office du Niger ([Paris], 1961), 17.
59. AON Office du Niger, Rapport annuel, 1947/8.
60. Interview with Umar Kone, Ke Masina, 11 June 1986.
61. Interview with Lasina Buare, Kokri (village), 13 June 1986.
62. AON Office du Niger, Rapport annuel, 1945/6.
63. AON 116 Office du Niger, Rapport campagne cotonnière 1956-7, 11 May 1957.
64. AON 138 Note 25 Jan. 1957, Rossin to Directeur Cabinet du Ministre FOM.
65. ANFOM 11 AffEco 371/1 Ministère des Colonies, Direction du Plan, Conclusions de la Commission chargée d'étudier la situation de l'Office du Niger, 11 Aug. 1945.
66. Efforts to improve rice production in the Niger valley received some support during World War II when rice imports into French West Africa plummetted. They received further support from FIDES (Fonds d'investissement pour le développement économique et social) and FERDES.
67. Pierre Viguier was director of the Office from 1946-51.
68. Pierre Viguier, 'Situation des terres irriguées de l'Office du Niger', Revue internationale de botanique appliquée et d'agriculture tropicale, 27 (1947), 460-70.
69. ANFOM 11 AffEco 371/7 Ministère des Colonies, Direction du Plan, Conclusions de la Commission chargée d'étudier la situation de l'Office du Niger, 11 Aug. 1945.
70. There were three main soil types (ndanga, mursi, jan) and four intermediate varieties (ndanga-ble, ndanga-fing, jan-mursi, jan-pere) considered appropriate for cultivation. ANFOM 11 AffEco 371/7 Office du Niger, Note sur la prospection pédologique des terres à aménager dans le delta central nigerien, n.a., 17 Sept. 1945.
71. ANFOM 11 AffEco 371/7 Office du Niger, Service des recherches, Les sols du delta central nigérien, 20 May 1948.
72. Wild rice (Oryza barthii) as well as other weeds became a problem in the Kokri region as early as 1941. By the 1950s some fields were so infested with wild rice that their yields were nil. AON Office du Niger, Rapport annuel, 1941; AON 116 Letter 13 Jan. 1958, Chef Sous Secteur Agricole Macina to Commandant de Cercle de Macina.
73. AON 390 Rapport Service de l'Exploitation, 1944-5; AON Office du Niger, Rapport annuel, 1946/7.
74. ANFOM 2 FIDES/ 472 Annexe 5 Mise au point projet Kouroumari, Viguier, 1952.
75. ANFOM SOM Br 3237 D Office du Niger, Problèmes culturaux et mécanisation agricole, 1955.
76. ANFOM 11 AffEco 371/1 Note sur la commande de matériel américain, Pierre Viguier, 24 Aug. 1946.
77. ANFOM 11 AffEco 371/7 Office du Niger, Service des recherches, Les sols du delta central nigerien, 20 May 1948.
78. Some 70 to 80 per cent of settlers were indebted to the Office du Niger in 1956/7. MISES, Enquête budgétaire dans le delta central nigérien([Paris], 1961), 45.
79. In 1953/4, 15,802 ha of a total 17,645 ha were deep-plowed; in 1957/8, 10,782 ha of 30,361 ha and in 1958/9, 5560 ha of 33,166 ha. AON Programme des travaux agricoles, 1958/9; AON Office du Niger, Rapports annuels, 1953/4, 1957/8, and 1958/9.
80. Service de l'exploitation, Programmes des travaux agricoles, campagne 1959-60, Archives de l'Office du Niger, no. 30.
81. ANFOM 11 AffEco 371/7 Evolution de l'activité de l'Office du Niger, n.a. [Pierre Viguier, Directeur O. N.], n.d. [1950].
82. Les programmes de travaux agricoles au Service de l'exploitation de l'Office du Niger, Campagne 1958-9, Archives de l'Office du Niger, no. 24; Service de l'exploitation, Programmes des travaux agricoles, campagne 1959-60, Archives de l'Office du Niger, no. 30.
83. Direction technique, Programme des travaux agricoles, campagne 1955-6, Archives de l'Office du Niger, no. 13; Service de l'exploitation, Compte-rendu succinct de la campagne agricole, 1956-7, Archives de l'Office du Niger, no. 22; Les programmes de travaux agricoles au Service de l'exploitation de l'Office du Niger, campagne 1958-9, Archives de l'Office du Niger, no. 24.
84. Service de l'exploitation, Compte-rendu succinct de la campagne agricole 1953/4, Archives de l'Office du Niger, no. 12.
85. AON Office du Niger, Rapport annuel 1958/9.
86. Pierre Viguier, L'Afrique de l'ouest vue par un agriculteur (Paris, 1961), 5.
87. Ibid. 30, 24, 33-4.
88. Ibid. 106-7.
89. Ibid. 107-8. This article explores the relationship between agricultural development theory and practice at the Office du Niger irrigation scheme in French Soudan (Mali). The Office du Niger was conceived in the 1920s within an elaborate social evolutionist model that sought to impose intensive plow agriculture and crop rotations on the farmers at the scheme. But Office planners were unable to realize their vision. Farmers rejected many project directives because they were inappropriate or incompatible with their priorities. By the mid-1940s, managers were forced to recognize that the project had not introduced an agricultural system that was sustainable in the long-run. Alongside Western scientific/technical approaches to ensuring the sustainability of farming at the project, managers made conscious use of local knowledge and local agricultural practices. Nonetheless, in their generalizing statements about African agriculture, Office managers and other French officials did not let go of their conviction of the superiority of European science and agriculture though their evolutionist pronouncements did become less coherent and confident. The disjunctures between social evolutionary theory and practical policies show that important changes in development policy may occur at the project level without overturning broader models of development. The persisting dominance of social evolutionary theory in French development thinking was, therefore, less determinant in shaping actual development activities than one might expect. This case throws into question the power attributed to large Western development institutions to determine development practice and asserts the importance of considering what went on at the grassroots when examining why development policies emerge, persist and change.