Famous+Plates+By+M+Arizmendi

 Africa ’s Cash Crops
By: Maria A.

What if a poor African country could grow a plant that would fetch healthy prices in the U.S. ? · A plant like this does exist, and an African country is growing it in good measure. In West Africa, Africans were the ones forced to raise cash crops for Europe and America rather than food crops for themselves. The money they received for selling there crops was not nigotiatible for there needs. Cash crops for export take more and more of the best land from local food production, forcing peasant farmers to bring additional marginal land under cultivation. Farming is the main source of economy. The main cash crops are cotton, maize, beans and groundnut. The main concerns with farming are the short rainy season, soil degradation, soil erosion and lack of farm machinery.