408 SCIENCE IN AFRICA 



of this was used for plantations of coffee, the only crop which at 

 present commands a price sufficient to cover the cost of the fertilizer. 

 The insufficiency of these quantities are shown by comparison 

 with the following figures for two of the Dominions. New Zealand 

 in 1927-30 imported 269,000 tons annually (94 per cent, phos- 

 phatic), and South Africa in the same period imported 234,000 

 tons annually (73 per cent phosphatic) (Speller 1931). In spite 

 of this considerable import and the presence of local phosphatic 

 deposits, it is generally agreed that the supplies of fertilizers in 

 South Africa are in no way equal to her requirements. This is 

 another argument for the development of stock-raising in parts 

 of the Union where maize cultivation is reducing fertility of the 

 soil. This subject has been discussed above on pp. 305 and 306. 



Co-operative organizations have become popular among Euro- 

 pean farmers throughout Africa in recent years, a movement 

 which has at the same time opened the way for the native co-opera- 

 tive systems discussed above. The farmers' associations organized 

 in all settled areas, have been of great assistance, especially in 

 marketing and distribution of seed. In certain cases the number 

 of co-operative associations has grown to so great an extent that 

 central control has become necessary. Thus in South Africa a 

 Go-operative Commission, appointed by the Union Government 

 in July 1933, showed that there were then 388 organizations. 

 Efforts were being made to establish a central body to control 

 the societies, but development had been retarded by the lack of 

 suitable officials, and opposition to the movement had been shown 

 by traders. In Southern Rhodesia the report of the Land Bank 

 for 1935 mentions eight co-operative societies or companies. 



In Northern Rhodesia an interesting development of the co- 

 operative spirit is the locust insurance scheme of the Ghisamba 

 Farmers' Association. The total losses due to locusts are shared by 

 the entire district, so that the possibility of the ruin of any indi- 

 vidual has become remote. During the depression years there can 

 be no doubt that many farmers were saved by the co-operative 

 organization; for example, in the same territory a society regularly 

 handles about 80 per cent of the settlers' maize crop and in 1933, 

 exported 70,000 bags of grain at a heavy loss. In Kenya the well- 

 known Farmers' Association offers many facilities for the best dis- 



