1 6 SCIENCE IN AFRICA 



African Survey. Data from various areas have been made available 

 through surveys of topography, geology, soils, water-supply, forests, 

 cultivation, stock, etc. Such surveys are merely the raw material 

 on which a planned system of land utilization could be based. 



The kind of data which throw most light on the problems of 

 land utilization vary with the state of development of different 

 territories. In every case a topographical survey is essential: it is 

 also widely held that soil and ecological surveys are indispensable. 

 Where agriculture is highly developed as in most parts of Uganda, 

 an ecological survey in the usual sense would be mainly of academic 

 interest. In such areas a general agricultural survey, based on 

 the knowledge of field officers already at work, should give all 

 relevant information, especially when combined, as it is now in 

 Uganda, with surveys of water-supplies, health conditions, etc. 

 The same might be said of the southern parts of Nyasaland, 

 where a full agricultural survey, which will be of fundamental 

 importance for later developments, is in progress. Again, the 

 agricultural officers in Tanganyika, in the course of their ordinary 

 duties, have accumulated material for agricultural surveys and 

 such data have been published for one or two districts. The results 

 can be combined with those of the topographic and geological 

 surveys already in progress, the soil survey which is coming from 

 Amani, and the ecological data gathered by the Tsetse Research 

 Department and by studies of livestock and medical subjects. Such 

 material would give an adequate basis for a policy of land utiliza- 

 tion, with regard, for example, to such questions as the effect on 

 the soil of a rapid extension of commercial cultivation. 



In the vast areas of Africa, where population is scanty and the 

 potentialities of the land are not yet known, as exemplified by 

 most of Northern Rhodesia and the Southern Sudan, the problems 

 of land utilization are still more important. Here it is important 

 to point out that in many parts of Africa, soil and vegetation are 

 being altered at so great a rate that there is danger of many areas 

 being soon rendered uninhabitable for man. Surveys of soil 

 erosion and studies of vegetation, with a view to its preservation, 

 are therefore of the utmost significance and will be considered in 

 some detail in later chapters. 



