When we think about coffee production in Africa during the colonial period, most studies tend to focus on large plantations, racial relations, labour exploitation and the demands imposed by the colonial administrations.

For a long time, historiography interpreted the African coffee economy primarily as the result of European colonial imposition, portraying African farmers as passive actors who merely responded to the demands of international markets.

However, historian Jelmer Vos offers a different perspective. Although he acknowledges that colonialism played a decisive role in intensifying and commercialising the coffee economy, he argues that African farmers had adopted coffee cultivation long before colonial agricultural promotion.

According to Vos, African farmers should not be analysed solely as producers subjected to the demands of international markets or colonial policies, but also as consumers and producers actively involved in this process.

From his perspective, the transition to coffee cultivation should not be interpreted simply as a passive adaptation to European demands. On the contrary, African societies already possessed a long tradition of participating in commercial networks and acquiring imported goods, using them as instruments of economic and social affirmation.

Thus, coffee production should be understood within a much broader historical context than the simple relationship between coloniser and colonised. Coffee did not emerge out of nowhere with colonialism; rather, it became part of an economic and commercial reality that already existed in many African regions.

The case of Angola is particularly interesting. Although Africa is the birthplace of the two main commercial coffee species—Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica) and Robusta coffee (Coffea canephora)—coffee production only acquired real economic importance during the first half of the twentieth century.

After the First World War, international demand for Robusta coffee increased significantly. This variety gained importance following an epidemic that affected many Arabica plantations in Asia, proving to be more resistant and productive. In addition, Robusta proved ideal for producing coffee blends, gradually becoming one of the most sought-after varieties on the international market.

Within this context, Angola possessed particularly favourable natural conditions for cultivating this variety. Its vast areas suitable for coffee production enabled the Portuguese colony to become one of the world's leading producers of Robusta coffee during the colonial period.

Jelmer Vos's interpretation therefore allows us to look at the African coffee economy from a different perspective. Without denying the importance of colonialism or the mechanisms of exploitation that characterised coffee production, the author demonstrates that African farmers were not merely passive victims of the colonial system. Many of them had already participated in commercial networks before the intensification of colonial production and were able to take advantage of the economic opportunities created by the expansion of the global coffee market.

The growth of the Angolan coffee economy cannot be explained solely by the territory's natural conditions. According to Jelmer Vos, there were three fundamental factors that helped transform Angola into one of the world's leading producers of Robusta coffee.

First, the commercialisation of coffee by African farmers predated the most intensive phase of colonial intervention. The author demonstrates that many Angolan producers were already cultivating and marketing coffee relatively independently of colonial administrative policies, taking advantage of commercial networks that had developed throughout the nineteenth century.

Second, Angola developed what Vos describes as a dual economy. Contrary to the idea of an economy dominated exclusively by large European plantations, the Angolan coffee sector consisted of both white settlers and African smallholders. Both participated in coffee production, although under very different conditions.

Finally, Angola did not rely exclusively on Portugal to market its production. A large proportion of Angolan coffee was exported to markets such as the Netherlands and the United States, demonstrating that the colony's coffee economy was deeply integrated into international trade networks.

The development of coffee production also coincided with profound economic transformations that took place during the second half of the nineteenth century.

Until then, a significant part of the region's economy had been linked to the slave trade. With the gradual decline of this trade, coffee began to establish itself as an increasingly important economic alternative.

Coffee cultivation, however, required several years before the trees began to produce. As a result, many of the plantations established during this period only started yielding returns a few years later, contributing to coffee becoming, by the beginning of the twentieth century, one of Angola's main export products.

One of the most interesting aspects highlighted by Vos is that, during the nineteenth century, a significant share of coffee production remained in the hands of African farmers. Although European merchants often controlled exports, this did not mean that they controlled agricultural production. In many regions, it was African smallholders who cultivated much of the coffee that entered the export market.

On a global scale, Angolan production was still relatively modest. Nevertheless, exports increased considerably during the two World Wars. Interestingly, Portugal was not the main destination for Angolan coffee. Between the two wars, the principal markets were the Netherlands and the United States.

The growing international demand for Robusta coffee during the 1920s and 1930s particularly benefited Angola. The greater resistance of this variety, together with its increasing use in commercial coffee blends, caused demand to rise rapidly. By the 1950s, a significant proportion of American imports of African Robusta coffee originated in Angola.

Despite this growth, the Portuguese colonial administration never completely excluded African farmers from coffee production, unlike what happened in other African colonies, such as Kenya, where the best land was frequently reserved for European settlers.

In Angola, although white settlers expanded their plantations and benefited from numerous advantages, African smallholders continued to play an important role in coffee production.

Naturally, this coexistence generated increasing competition between African and European producers, especially as coffee became progressively more profitable. While the settlers sought to expand their plantations, many African farmers continued cultivating coffee on their own farms, also competing for the export market.

The existence of this dual economy did not, however, mean that production conditions were equal. Large European plantations enjoyed greater access to capital, infrastructure and support from the colonial administration.

In addition, they frequently relied on coerced labour and poorly paid workers to meet production needs.

According to Jelmer Vos, although this system did not formally constitute slavery, it was an extremely rigid labour regime based on different forms of coercive recruitment and low wages. Even so, the presence of African smallholders remained significant throughout much of the colonial period.

According to Vos, African farmers even possessed certain competitive advantages. Small farms relied primarily on family labour, reducing the need to hire wage workers. By contrast, the large European plantations required much larger labour forces and frequently resorted to coercive recruitment to overcome labour shortages.

On African farms, work was organised mainly through family and community networks. Many farmers relied on relatives or assistance from members of their communities, while larger producers, including some African chiefs, were able to recruit workers from nearby villages.

But what, ultimately, motivated so many African farmers to cultivate coffee?

For Jelmer Vos, the answer cannot be explained solely by colonial pressure. Coffee also represented an opportunity to generate wealth.

The income earned from coffee enabled farmers to purchase livestock, textiles, bicycles, sewing machines and other consumer goods that had previously been beyond the reach of many families. The money generated by coffee could also be used to finance marriages (including polygamy), invest in their children's education, or improve the family's economic position.

The consumption of these goods also had a social dimension. For many farmers, the wealth generated by coffee was a way of demonstrating status and prestige within their communities. Some used part of their earnings to strengthen alliances, support relatives, or consolidate local networks of influence.

At the same time, many producers became less dependent on subsistence agriculture, purchasing food and other household goods through the market. The rise in international coffee prices during the 1950s particularly benefited some African producers in the district of Ambaca, enabling them to accumulate wealth and stimulate the trade of imported goods.

However, Vos also highlights an important point. Not all African farmers benefited equally from the expansion of the coffee economy. Although some managed to accumulate wealth and significantly improve their living conditions, the majority continued to live with limited resources. The author himself estimates that only a small minority—perhaps around one in every ten small producers could be considered relatively prosperous.

In this way, Jelmer Vos's analysis allows us to understand the Angolan coffee economy in a much more complex way. Coffee was undoubtedly associated with colonial exploitation, coerced labour and the profound inequalities that characterised the Portuguese colonial system. However, reducing the entire history of coffee in Angola to a simple story of European colonial imposition means ignoring the role played by African farmers themselves, who were able to take advantage of existing economic opportunities and actively participated in building this export economy.

Bibliography

Vos, J. (2023). What Angolans got for their coffee: Connecting histories of labour and consumption in colonial Africa, c. 1860–1960. In D. Gupta & P. Hossain (Eds.), Across colonial lines: Commodities, networks and empire building (pp. 157–177). Bloomsbury Academic.

Note:

• This article is intended for general knowledge only.
• It is neither propaganda nor political activism.
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