People from the French colony of Upper Volta were the major contributors to efforts of the federal government of French West Africa (Afrique occidentale française, or AOF) to develop other colonies in the federation. In a word, the colonial government put them to work. The decision to carve the colony of Upper Volta out of AOF territory coincided with another decision, to extend existing railroads and also build another that crossed the federation. On railway construction sites, Voltaic workers replaced forced labor mobilized from the other colonies that were, in fact, slated to benefit from the projects. Voltaic railroad workers were indeed so important that the federal government appointed a special delegate to work with the administrations of the colonies to help coordinate their deployment. Prior to this time, businessmen in the AOF had been interested primarily in the quick profits derived from commercial exchange and the export of forest products. However, sharp rises in the prices of agricultural products led them to turn their attention to export agriculture. By the mid-1920s, for example, the government of the colony of Côte d'Ivoire received a flood of requests for concessions for commercial agriculture. As the need for labor became increasingly acute, French planters asked colonial officials in the neighboring colony of Upper Volta to help by recruiting labor for their needs. But was Upper Volta really in a situation to provide the migrant labor needed elsewhere in French West Africa?