Tobago’s economic diversification challenges, 1838-1888

Dr Rita Pemberton

TOBAGO’S historic relationship with sugar production began with the imperial desire to increase its access to the profitable sugar market and its consequent decision to alienate all its newly sanctioned acquisition island’s accessible cultivable land to people with the means to provide the required labour to make the sugar plantations operable within a short period of time.

The need for haste to change the island’s landscape from the appearance of a no man’s land with forest cover to one with an organised system of cultivation in operation was also stimulated by the need to locate a strong British presence on the island. This need resulted from the intense British/French rivalry for possession of the island, which was determined, but not to the satisfaction of the French, by the Treaty of Paris in 1763.

Being keenly aware that French interest in possessing Tobago continued despite the terms of the treaty, as a security measure the British administration sought to populate the island as quickly as possible. The intent was to have available the manpower for defence of the island should a French attack occur.

The initial British land policy in Tobago was fully oriented to the cultivation of sugar. Apart from the forest reserve, which was established in 1776, all the island’s land resources were allocated to private purchasers and some poor man’s lots, but there was no provision for any cultivation other than large plantations, and even the crown itself possessed no land on the island. This would prove to be a deterrent to diversification.

Once established, the sugar industry encountered short-lived periods of prosperity and significant periods of slump. By the beginning of the 19th century there were signs that all was not well in the industry. The island’s sugar attracted the lowest prices on the market, and planters were not making a profit and could not meet their expenses. The number of indebted estates began to increase.

There was no investor interest in the island, plantations were put up for sale but there were few buyers, some estates changed hands, the number of absentee owners increased, while the process of estate abandonment became more and more evident. But the diehard planters persevered, trying to turn around a dying industry. Despite the need, planter attitude was therefore another factor which would impede the development of a programme of economic diversification for the island.

The economic life of the island worsened with the passage of the abolition and emancipation laws, in response to which the planting community expressed their anger and turned their hostilities on the labouring population.

Planter/worker relations on the island functioned on the basis of separate and competing development. Planters saw the Africans as workers who must be forced to work on terms set by the planters and the interests of one group were seen as having a negative impact on the other.

The activities of the freed workers outside of plantation labour were seen as prejudicial to the sugar industry, and the value of the agricultural pursuits of the freed workers were discounted in terms of their value to the economy where the planters were concerned. Economic diversification was not on their agenda.

The next factor which posed problems for the island’s economy was the nature of the trading arrangements for the sugar industry. The processing of sugar was timed for the arrival of shipping, which brought imported items and took the sugar for sale overseas.

Outside of these arrangements there were no other ships coming to the island. Shipping arrangements were geared to the needs of the sugar industry and would not necessarily be appropriate for other crops.

For Tobago, shipping was a critical element in any programme of diversification and, indeed, for the development of the island. Hence, the policies and systems used in the establishment of Tobago as a plantation colony set the stage for the first impediments to diversification.

Traditionally, sugar was the main export of Tobago because most of the island’s plantations were sugar estates. From the 1850s, most of the sugar was produced by the freed Africans who laboured under the metayage system.

In 1855, they produced one-third of the island's sugar but they also produced and exported ground provisions, which were cultivated on land they either earned for their labour as metayers or on land which they rented from the cash-strapped estates.

Although the production of ground provisions was not considered a major crop, it was important to increase the earnings of the workers, provide sustenance for their families, and increase the amount of specie in circulation on the island, on which coins were scarce.

From the 1850s, the second important crop was coconut, which was cultivated by both peasants and plantations. Some estates established “coconut walks” which were leased to small farmers and run by the estates themselves.

The coconut industry was significant to the population. The fibre was used to wash dishes, fruit and vegetables, and to make mattresses and bedding, and the shells were used as firewood and to provide light in the homes, sometimes as a substitute for matches. It was also used to feed chickens and pigs.

In addition, coconut was integrated into the island’s food and foodways drinks – candies, breads, cakes, pastries, traditional dishes – and manufactured into coconut oil for cooking, hair and body care, and traditional medicinal preparations.

Coconut cultivation was not without its challenges. The slump in the sugar industry resulted in a reduction in the number of ships that called in on the island and those that did came specifically for sugar.

The main shipping line that came to the island was the Royal Mail Steam Packet and Company, which would only take coconuts when the captain agreed. The disorganised shipping arrangements did not help to promote coconuts as an export crop. The main stimulus occurred in 1882 when the Gillespie/McCalls Direct Line Steamers agreed to take coconuts for export.

Cotton was the next crop that was considered for export. Cotton cultivation was revived in Tobago after its decline in the 18th century. This renewed cultivation attempt, the effort of small proprietors, was stimulated by the increased demand which was occasioned by the civil war in the US, which caused a significant reduction in American cotton production in the 1860s.

In an attempt to take advantage of this market opening, Tobago produced 500 pounds of cotton in 1863, which increased to 23,195 pounds in 1865, but declined dramatically to 219 bales in 1873 and ceased thereafter.

Minor exports were sent unofficially to the smaller islands by sloops, schooners and other small craft which travelled through Plymouth to Barbados, Trinidad and other Caribbean territories. This trade, which provided Tobago with its most frequent contact with the outside world, was a very important source of income, particularly for residents in the northern part of the island.

In 1879, trade with Trinidad became important to the island. However, this unsupervised operation left opportunities for stealing and smuggling in which the Gillespie/MacCalls company was implicated, having been accused of depriving the island of revenue. In the 1880s, Scarborough was designated the official port for exports as a measure to protect the island’s revenue.

On the eve of the unification of Trinidad and Tobago, the question of economic diversification had not been given the serious thought it deserved. The limitations imposed on the island by the imperial system and the attitude of the planting community established blocks on the path to diversification.

Focus remained on finding a suitable export crop and the possibilities that were demonstrated by the working class for diversification to supply the regional market and satisfy home needs failed to obtain ruling-class support.