Author: Thomas S. Githens

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2017-10-29

Total Pages: 118

ISBN-13: 9780265920558

Excerpt from The Food Resources of Africa Africa, an important contributor to the world's agricultural sup ply, has now more than ever a vital share in the food economy of the world. The Japanese conquest of the Far East has deprived the United Nations of important food resources, and it is necessary to look for new fields to increase the production in those territories at the command of the United Nations. Africa's proximity to the major battle fronts makes it an area particularly strategic in location from which to supplement the depleted food supply, and the African natives contribute to this task in no small measure. Thus, the meager fat rations of Great Britain have come to depend largely on the amount of groundnuts, palm oil, and palm kernels which West Africa can furnish, and the Middle Eastern armies are supplied with food from East African territories. The fact that, despite Africa's importance, only scant information about its food production is available makes the situation potentially dangerous. Not only might valuable food sources be ignored, but conversely Africa's productivity might be overestimated and lead to disastrous local famines if drained too much, as, indeed, occurred in some East African territories early this year. For the United States, which contributes such a large share of food to both Allied and conquered nations, it is of special interest to learn and know about those food resources which now or in the near future may be available in other parts of the world. These considerations prompted the decision of the Committee on African Studies at the University of Pennsylvania to undertake a program of Food Research. The present studies by Dr. Githens and Mr. Wood intend to give a general survey of Africa's agricultural resources, while in later volumes of the African Handbooks more detailed studies, both regarding specific areas and individual cr0ps. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.