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' i , REPORT ON A VISIT TO NIGERIA,•i • NOVEMBER-DECEMBER i9U5- *• -:i ' • by•A. GRuJaJWOOB; Senior Specialist,-•INTRODUCTION,.I visited Nigeria luring November and Deo-ember,1945, with instructions to report on such ,pa-p*fi of theDepartment of Agriculture's recent work as woula^be-Qfinterest and instruction to ourselves in framing our plansof research and development. It was hoped that in mattersof research we might be able to avoid the duplication ofeffort which has been an unfortunate feature of past workin the West African Colonies; that in developing internalmarkets each Colony should be aware of the work doue bythe other; and that there should be collusion in the productionand marketing of any product for which__there wasa ready place in the world market.2. A provisional itinerary was pce-pared by you,and submitted to the Director of Agriculture, Nigeria.This was elaborated by the Deputy Director, Ibadan, andthe Assistant Director, Zaria,- wro made full plans forthe edification and che entertainment of my wife andmyself. We should like to express our sincere appreciationof the courtesy and patience with which our questionswere answered, and of the fund, of hospitality offered usby BO many members of the Department3. I arrived in Nigeria on November 21st and lefton December 30th; a detailed itinerary is attached asAppendix I- I had the good fortune to serve in Nigeriabetween*1927 and 1931 > and to have been a representativeof the Gold Coast at the Third West African AgriculturalConference held in Nigeria in 1938. At this Conferencea very complete account of the work of the NigerianDepartment was rendereds and this rep: . is principallyconcerned with subsequent developn'-nts in the programme'then outlined,WARTIME AGRICULTURE,\\. Whilst it has been possible to continue mostof the ma jc r i n v 1 o-o-Mons then projected, and to ins + i-tute others, e. go research into oil-palms, the main workof the Department since 1938 has necessarily been directedto the war effort; to the reduction of imports by increasedself-sufficiency in native foodotuffs; to the productionof European foods for a white population greatlyenlarged by military operations; end to increased exportsof commodities vital to war needs.5* These tasks have sat more lightly on theNigerian Department than on ourselves, Pre-war importsof food (1932.-36) for Nigeria's population of 20,600,000were of the order of £1,500,000 per annum. ' The Gold Coastwith a population of 3,80C,OCO, imparted over the sameperiod frod to the value of £1,200,000 per annum. (Thesefigures include- spirits and tobaco? whose consumption isroughly proportional to total food imports, e.g. 1932Nigeria /