African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 173 The Direction of Agricultural Development in 1869

In 1869, East Africa's agricultural plan was mainly to continue to reclaim wasteland, and as before, priority should be given to reclaiming land in border areas.

In Ernst's view, in the era of industrialization, agricultural areas are naturally buffer zones, which can not only maintain population, ensure border security, but also not be too distressed when a war breaks out. After all, compared with destroying an industrial area, blowing up an area of ​​farmland It is obviously painless (refer to Northeast China, Ukraine), and the follow-up treatment of the farmland is good, and production can resume quickly.

Of course, this is relative to big countries. For those countries with small land areas and land resources that directly threaten their survival, they must try their best to grab any land around them (see Israel).

If the East African colony is regarded as a country, its area has reached 200 million square kilometers, which is not considered a small country in any era.

In order to ensure the safety of the East African colonies, immigrants gave priority to the border area, which is in line with the actual situation for East Africa, which is originally relatively sparsely populated.

The current border areas in East Africa are basically good land except for those near Somalia. The Rufuma River Basin in the south, the coast of Lake Malawi, the coast of Lake Solon (Lake Tanganyika) in the west, the Mitumba Mountains, and the northwest The Friedrich (Albert) Lake in the north and the Omo River Basin in the north are good places with plenty of water.

At the same time, increasing the number of immigrants in the border areas can also isolate the surrounding indigenous people.

Asked how to solve the problem of the blackening of France in the previous life, in Ernst’s view, it is the problem of being able to give birth. If the French natives are really able to give birth, it is not the problem of France turning black, but the problem of the French colonies (West Africa, North Africa) turning white.

Immigrants in this era, especially those in the East African colonies, were mainly farmers and had the highest fertility rate.

Divide them on the border, and in the future, these populations will overflow, regardless of whether they are inward or outward, it will not be harmful to East Africa.

From previous life experience, one of the most misguided paths in tropical agriculture is blindly planting cash crops for economic benefits, which eventually leads to the loss of food autonomy.

Therefore, Ernst has always adhered to the bottom line of planting food crops in East Africa. Otherwise, as in the previous German East Africa, all plantations were built in East Africa, and the East African colonies would be able to make profits from plantations alone.

An important measure that Ernst used to ensure food security in East Africa was to grow a little of everything. Single crops are easy to suffer heavy losses. For example, the Great Irish Famine was caused by potato fungus.

At present, the East African colonies basically have the staple food that can be grown, except barley and other crops suitable for cold zone cultivation.

In 1869, East Africa should continue to promote the planting of various staple food crops, and at the same time continue to expand the introduction of economic crops in East Africa.

It can be said that the introduction of economic crops is not very easy in this era, such as tea, a crop that was originally controlled by the country of origin.

Of course, it is still possible to think of a way, such as rubber, which originated in South America. According to rumors in previous lives, Brazil banned the export of rubber seeds and saplings.

The source of the seeds of the rubber plantation in Southeast Asia in the previous life was that the British Henry Alexander Wickham stole it from Brazil and brought it back to the UK and then planted it in Southeast Asia and other regions.

Wickham openly claims to have stolen [-] Hevea seeds from the Santarém region of Brazil

In fact, historians later discovered that the Brazilian government at that time may not have banned the export of rubber seeds, and Wickham's description was probably bragging.

And Ernst naturally wanted to try whether the Brazilian government of this era really had such strict control over rubber as Wickham described.

The fact is obvious that the rubber in East Africa has already been planted. It is possible that the Brazilian government has really controlled the rubber at some point in time, but the people Ernst sent to Brazil did not encounter this situation.

Moreover, given the current chaotic situation in South America (Paraguay War), it is difficult for so many countries in South America to have such strong organizational capabilities.

Moreover, rubber is not unique to Brazil, because the Amazon rainforest is not only exclusive to Brazil, but also distributed in a small amount in other countries. It can basically be concluded that the information obtained from the marketing account in this previous life is false.

Most countries in this era have poor organizational capabilities, and it is very difficult to control certain things.

And what the colonists want may not be discussed with you, just grab it directly, with a gun on your forehead, you can say yes.

The bureaucrats in many countries in this era are quite poor, and it is quite difficult to expect them to make a difference. For example, countries like Tsarist Russia and Brazil basically spend money to do things. For big nobles and big capitalists like Ernst Very easy to penetrate.

Therefore, East Africa has achieved very good results in the introduction of economic crops, and more than 20 kinds of tea have been introduced.

Moreover, the East African Agricultural Research Institute is conducting investigations and research on native plants in East Africa, and many species unique to East Africa will also be developed in the future.

At present, the development strategy of East African agriculture is to further improve the innovation of tools, accelerate the cultivation of livestock, and accelerate the construction of water conservancy facilities.

The cost of mechanization is too high, and before the advent of diesel engines, cattle and horses were the most important source of power for agriculture.

With the backing of Berlin Energy Power Company, in the future, East Africa can directly pay the fare and get on the train, skipping the stage of agricultural steam engines.

It is really that the steam engine is too expensive and the efficiency is not high, and it is not cost-effective to introduce it vigorously now, and only those countries with deep pockets use steam agricultural machinery (Britain, America, etc.).

Even the largest manufacturer of agricultural steam engines in the United States in history has only produced more than 6000 units. It can be seen that this thing is not affordable for ordinary people in the United States.

After all, more than 6000 agricultural steam engines are placed on the soil of the United States, and no splash can be hit.

Food needs to be eaten at one bite, and agricultural development must conform to the actual situation in East Africa. Now East Africa is only suitable for developing the livestock power of cattle and horses to improve the efficiency of East African agriculture. Moreover, an important purpose of developing livestock is to reduce dependence on slaves.

The construction of water conservancy facilities is a century-old project for East Africa, and it must be paid attention to at any time.

In 1868, in addition to the war in East Africa, the most important thing was road construction and water conservancy construction.

Especially the application of windmills. In the second half of the year alone, tens of thousands of agricultural irrigation windmills were built in East Africa, which greatly improved the efficiency of agricultural irrigation.

As for the area of ​​agricultural planting in East Africa, in 1869 it also depends on the situation of new immigrants entering East Africa.

Human energy is limited. Relying on the current productivity in East Africa, the per capita development of about 12.75 mu of land is already the limit. The subsequent land development still depends on the number of new immigrants.

For example, some of the new immigrants who arrived in East Africa in December 1868 may still be on their way to the designated area in the interior. Only after they arrive at the designated area can they develop new land, and the original immigrants will naturally continue to take care of the already developed land. .

(End of this chapter)