On September 10, 1974, Guinea-Bissau finally celebrated Independence from Portuguese colonial rule, a moment its people had long fought for. Yet, missing from that celebration was the man whose vision had shaped the struggle, Amílcar Cabral.

Picture Amilcar Cabral as an agronomist who spent his days listening to farmers under mango trees, translating their hunger, exhaustion, and quiet defiance into the language of revolution.

For him, the liberation of Guinea-Bissau would not come from Lisbon or from international summits, it would come from the land and the people who tilled it.

Months before independence, Cabral was assassinated in Conakry but his legacy lived on in every farmer who had turned the fields into the frontline of resistance.

His Use of Crops as a Form of Resistance

Cabral’s revolution began with soil samples. Trained in agricultural engineering in Lisbon, he returned to West Africa in the 1950s to survey Guinea’s farmlands. He learned quickly that colonial exploitation was about the land. He learned that fertile soil was drained for export crops like peanuts while villagers remained in poverty.

He knew then that liberation would need to grow from the ground up. As he famously told his comrades, “Hide nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories….” The people had to own their fight.

Through the PAIGC (Partido Africano para a Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde), which he co-founded in 1956, Cabral began mobilising farmers. He visited villages, sat on mats in dusty courtyards, and convinced peasants that their hands could do more than till the land and that they could till freedom. Fields became workshops of rebellion, where food was grown not just for survival but to feed guerrilla fighters.

Unlike many liberation leaders, Cabral understood that rifles alone would never win independence. He believed culture itself was a weapon. Portuguese rule had tried to erase local identity, but Cabral reclaimed it as the foundation of resistance.

He encouraged people to speak in their languages, sing their songs, and teach their children their own histories. In liberated zones, PAIGC schools taught reading and writing alongside proverbs and folklore. Women, once sidelined, became teachers, nurses, and in some cases, guerrilla leaders.

By reshaping education and reclaiming culture, Cabral rebranded the very idea of Guinea-Bissau. It was no longer a colony of “Portuguese Guinea” it was a people, united by their own voice.

The War for Freedom

When diplomacy failed, Cabral turned to armed struggle. Beginning in 1963, PAIGC fighters launched a guerrilla war against Portuguese troops. What shocked the world was that this tiny movement of villagers and farmers soon controlled nearly two-thirds of the countryside.

He built clinics, schools, and local councils in liberated areas, showing people what self-rule could look like even before independence was won. While Portugal invested heavily in its colonial army, Cabral invested in people.

By 1972, the United Nations recognized PAIGC as the legitimate representative of Guinea-Bissau’s people. The tide had turned and Independence was on the horizon.

Unfortunately on January 20, 1973, tragedy struck. In Conakry, Guinea, where the PAIGC had its base, Cabral was ambushed and shot dead by disgruntled party members. His death was a shock that rippled through Africa.

For a moment, it seemed the revolution might collapse without its guiding voice yet Cabral had prepared his people too well. His vision had already rooted itself in the hearts of farmers, women, and fighters across the land.

On September 24, 1973, PAIGC unilaterally declared independence in Madina do Boé and less than a year later, on September 10, 1974, following Portugal’s Carnation Revolution, Guinea-Bissau’s sovereignty was officially recognized. Cabral’s body was laid in a grave, but his dream had been realized.

Today, Guinea-Bissau celebrates September 10 as its Independence Day while remembering the story of sacrifice, resilience, and a man who turned farmers into freedom fighters.

Happy Independence Day, Guinea-Bissau. May the seeds Cabral planted continue to grow in your fields, in your schools, and in your spirit of freedom.