The development of peasant commodity production in Dar Hamar: incorporation with immiseration

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Book chapter

Title:	The development of peasant commodity production in Dar Hamar: incorporation with immiseration
Author:	Ahmed, Mustafa Babiker
Book title:	Perspectives on development in the Sudan
Year:	1986
Pages:	373-400
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Sudan
Subjects:	farmers cash crops
Abstract:	By reference to the situation of peasant commodity producers in Dar Hamar, Kordofan Region, Sudan, the author examines the forces that played and continue to play a crucial role in undermining the peasant productive base. A general description of present-day Dar Hamar is followed by an analysis of the mechanisms underlying the development of peasant commodity production, in a three-stage periodization: precolonial (before 1898), colonial (1898-1955), and postcolonial. The precolonial history of Dar Hamar was one of economic exploitation without political incorporation. With the penetration of the capitalist system, cash cropping was introduced and its adoption ensured through the imposition of taxation. Since the colonial period, however, the techniques of production have not been improved. Many peasants are forced into labour migration while the progressive commoditization and commercialization of agriculture in Dar Hamar has stimulated 'individualism', eroded traditional forms of solidarity, and provided an engine for capital accumulation and socioeconomic differentiation. Bibliogr., notes, ref.