Agriculture in Sao Tome e Principe: Policy and Investment Options

• It is the Policy of Cornell University actively to support equality of educational and employment opportunity. No person shall be denied admission to any educational program or activity or be denied employment on the basis of any legally prohibited discrimination involving, but not limited to, such factors as race, color, creed, religion, national or ethnic origin, sex, age or handicap_ The University is committed to the maintenance of I affirmative action programs which will assure the continuation of such equality of opportunity_ I .. SUMMARY Sao Tome e Principe is an island country whose particular physical circumstances and economic history have important implications for agricultural policy and investment. Located in the Gulf on Guinea just north of the Equator, the two islands have fertile volcanic soils, high mountains and rainfall that varies from more than 7000 mm annually to less than 1000 mm depending on elevation and orientation toward prevailing winds. Basic conditions for agriculture are good-a wide variety of crops can be grown, though the country has historically devoted the majority of its cultivated area to monocropped plantations. At the present time cocoa is the most important crop in tenns of area, revenue, and exports. Uninhabited before the arrival of the Portuguese in the second half of the 1400's, the islands are populated with a mixture of peoples from various parts of Africa and Europe. At the present time, population is approximately 140,000, with all but around 6,000 of these on the island of Sao Tome. Until independence in 1975 the island economies were dominated by plantations (called "rocas") which were taken over by the state after independence in 1975. The government initiated a process ofland tenure refonn and privatization in the 1990's which has resulted in a mixture of small, medium and large size holdings. The government is currently in the process of considering the breakup of the remaining large cocoa plantations. This history has resulted in a smallholder sector that is different from that in any continental African country. Simply put, there is no indigenous tradition of smallholder agriculture. Rural poor typically have had home gardens (glebas) but have no history of operating their own farms, having instead worked as employees on the large estates which dominated the islands. The newly settled smallholders (as well as owners of many of the larger holdings) are embarked upon an enterprise in which they have no experience and for …