The Evolution OF Cape Verde's Agriculture

In this paper I will try to show that, while indeed drought has been a constant experience for the inhabitants of these islands, the severity of the current situation is also a result of the particular pattern of land use and land tenure brought and maintained by the Portuguese since 1460. These patterns brought about distortions in production and natural resource management and laid the basis for a system that seriously mismatched population and resources. Although such mismatches are not uncommon, island populations are in a particularly delicate balance with nature. Their boundedness makes them especially susceptible to disaster, given the difficulties for the population to outmigrate in sufficient numbers to take the pressure off the stressed environment. The Republic of Cape Verde is made up of ten islands located approximately 600 kilometers from the west African coast (see Figure 1). The islands occupy a large area of ocean but the total land area is only slightly over 4000 square kilometers, comparable to Togo or Sri Lanka or about one-half of Guatemala. The islands were uninhabited when discovered in 1460 by the Portuguese. From that date to 1975 Cape Verde was a colony of Portugal. At the outset the Portuguese sought to implant the plantation-type societies that they had established earlier in southern Portugal, the Algarve, the Azores, and Madeira. The evident aridity of the islands did not attract