ABSTRACT
The adoption of the TOMC as an analytical tool has opened up a new path for studying African export agriculture. The exercise has borne practical and theoretical fruits. On the practical side, I mention renewed interest in subjects that have been ignored for many years such as the telegraph, the auction system, and the banana exports (Chapters 4, 12, and 13). Another practical fruit took the form of new interpretations of particular events, problems, and relationships (Chapters 8 and 9). On the theoretical side new insights were gained with regard to the classification of crops (Chapter 5), the selling conduct of the exporter (Chapter 7), the velocity of the product flow (Chapter 10), and the exporters' preference for highly marketable products (Chapter 14).
