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The recent development of the textile industry in the African and Malagasy States of the French currency area There were just a few textile factories in these states before their independence, because raw material was absent ; these markets were also small and French goods were protected from international competition. Many factories have been built after 1960 to supply the needs of these states by utilizing local cotton and fibres having the same use as jute ; the production of these fibres is growing more and more important. Now some factories are built to manufacture goods for the Western European States. The regional study shows that production of raw material preceded the development of industry in some states, whereas it followed it in others.

The Role of Plantations in the Puerto Rico Economy. The remarkable developments of Puerto Rican economy and standard of living must not conceal the difficulties bearing hard on the island because of its superabundant population which is increasing rapidly. The emigration from Porto Rico to the continental United States plays the part of a safety valve the working of which follows precisely enough the accelerations or the decline of the economic growth in Porto Rico itself. Furthermore, there occurs inland the island a redistribution of the population, from which the metropolis of San Juan derives benefit. The latter, owing to the coexistence of ultra-modern aspects peculiar to American civilization and of poor districts which are being slowly resorbed, is, in a manner, a symbol of the present development of Porto Rico.

Murunga, a hill of the Burundi Murunga is a «hill», a term which means both surface relief and a social group area. This hill is located on the edge of the Congo-Nile range ; is has an altitude of more than 2 000 m. The climate is cool and wet, but rains are irregular. Natural vegetation is diminushing because of the high density — 140 hab./km2 — and growth rate — 2 to 3 % per year — of the population. The population lives in groups of huts cailled enclosures, which are connected by family ties and good neighbour relations. The economy of the «hill» is based on a combination of farming and animal raising. The crops, more or less fertilized with dung all around the enclosures and pastures, rise in strata on the slopes. At the bottom of the valley, the swamps are drained during the dry season. The «hill» is divided among various families of the same tribe, but the pastures are used on a collective basis. Peasants with their families or sometimes with tenants, obtain three types of crops during the year. But the soil is poor in spite of the dung fertilizer used. There is an improductive period during the year. Animal raising is followed more for sentimental than economical reasons. There are few activities with which people earn money. The exemple of this «hill» illustrates sufficiently well the underdevelopment of the African countryside.

The development of shrimp industry in Malagasy Shrimping has been practised for a long time in Malagasy, but with the intervention of Japanese and Lebanese fishing companies, it has been making rapid strides since a few years. Rather propitions natural conditions, the existence of important stocks added to a strong world demand, account for this development. Thanks to the use of very elaborated techniques (Floridian trawling, sonars, etc...), catches are increasing rapidly (4 000 T. in 1971). Actually fishing areas are located off the Nord-West Coast where Majunga stands as the main centre for shrimping, but the sector can be extended to the west coast in relation with the planning of a harbour in Morondava. Japan, the U.S.A., and more secondarily, France are the main markets for the Malagasy shrimps which is set aside from the interior market because of its cost prices. Shrimping might nevertheless initiate a general rise of deep-sea fishing which could supply the needs of fish of local populations.