Women and Palm Oil Production in Ijebuland: A Historical Perspective

Abstract

The colonial economy was largely agrarian, nurtured as it was on cash and other food crops. In this enterprise, palm oil and its profitable by-product, palm kernel, were on the A-list of contributors to the colonial economy. Today, however, the Nigerian economy subsists on unrefined crude. Dim is the memory of the wealth that came with palm products; even dimmer is the memory of those who produced the wealth. The economic history of this period without the recognition of those especially the women who featured prominently in it will be incomplete. In this somewhat gendered account of the history of palm oil production in Ijebuland and, by extension, the role of women in this and related enterprises, this paper returns to the compliment of the major players of this era.


(The Journal of Cultural Studies: 2001 3(2): 595-603)