Diversi cation and uni cation

Changes in agricultural activities

We are learning to:

•define and apply various concepts: diversification and unification.

After emancipation, agriculture began to diversify. Further diversification also took place when the indentured labour system was ended. Diversity was an important step in the development of agriculture in Trinidad and Tobago, which for a long time had been a monoculture based on sugar production.

Agricultural diversification meant that a wider range of crops was grown across the country:

•the growing of ground provisions such as yam, cassava, dasheen

•the rearing of livestock

•the growing of vegetables such as corn and peas

•the cultivation of fruits such as cocoa, bananas and citrus.

There were several advantages to diversification:

•More and more people were able to feed and support themselves by growing their own food and raising livestock (peasant farming).

•People developed skills and experience as they started to farm new crops. This gave farmers the ability to respond to changes in the market. For example, the cacao farmers were able to produce more cacao because of the introduction of new types of cacao trees and help from experienced farmers from Venezuela.

•There was less reliance on sugar farming – so, when sugar prices collapsed or demand for sugar dropped, farmers were able to make a living from producing other crops.

•Crops were grown throughout the year, so people had food, work and income all through the year.

Exercise

1. Explain what agricultural diversification means.

2. How does diversification help with employment?

3. If you owned a small farm and you wanted to provide your family with food and a secure income throughout the year, what would you try to do? Why?

Research

Research the following benefits of agricultural diversification: a) the links between agriculture and other industries b) how it can create employment c) how exporting goods can earn money for the country d) how it can cut a country’s food bill.

Write 150–200 words.

Unification of Trinidad and Tobago

We saw in Unit 2.1 that during the 17th and 18th centuries Tobago changed hands many times between the British, French and Dutch.

In 1889, Tobago was annexed to Trinidad by the British government and the two islands were ruled as one state. The path to unification was a long one.

In 1833, Tobago became part of the Windward Islands along with Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent, the Grenadines and Barbados. By the 1870s, the economic position of the Windward Islands was very serious.

•In 1876, the workers of the sugar plantations went on strike, as their working conditions had not improved much since Emancipation. On 1 May 1876, workers on the Roxborough Estate in Tobago set fire to the cane fields.

•When the police were called to arrest the workers, the crowd clashed with the police. One of the workers, Mary Jane Thomas, was accidentally killed by policeman Corporal Belmanna, who was himself beaten to death by the crowd.

•Following the Roxborough riots, the British authorities summoned a warship from Grenada to help keep the peace. The Tobago Assembly dissolved and Tobago became a Crown Colony, under British rule.

•In 1884, the sugar industry in Tobago had collapsed and British interests in the island diminished.

•In 1886, the British announced that Tobago would be annexed to Trinidad, which was completed in 1889. The islands still had some independence from each other and, in the 1890s, the British government was asked if they would consider total unification.

•Finally, in 1899, Tobago became a ward of the unified colony, which it remains to this day.

Exercise

4. Explain in your own words the term unification.

5. Name two of the people involved in the Roxborough riots and their role in the events.

6. Note key dates from the information you have studied and add them to your timeline.