Chapter 80 Agriculture
With the vigorous development of the "purge" movement, a large amount of land has been vacant, and with the increase in immigration in the future, all of it will inevitably be developed.
The current colonial agricultural system in East Africa is still relatively chaotic. Because the colonial population is too dispersed, the cultivation of crops is also very different.
The staple foods include wheat, rice, and corn. Recently, the East African colonies are trying to introduce millet cultivation in Kenya. This is what Ernst emphasized. After all, the climate in Kenya, especially in the north, is getting drier, and millet is a very drought-tolerant crop. .
In the past life, East Africa was an important millet-producing area. This place is very suitable for millet cultivation. After all, East Africa has a tropical grassland climate, which is most suitable for growing "grass", and millet came from the domestication of Setaria spp.
These are food crops, and cash crops are even more confusing. The East African colonies are located in the tropics, and basically all tropical plants can be grown, such as sisal, coffee, rubber, cocoa, and all kinds of vegetables and fruits...
If the East African colonies only considered the local food and clothing issues, then they could grow anything. However, as an area that Ernst would vigorously develop in the future, the East African colonies had to prepare for industrialization after all.
If agriculture wants to pave the way for industrialization, it must first carry out modernization reforms and give full play to its scale advantage.
To put it bluntly, East African agriculture has to compete in the market to earn a lot of real money and accumulate the original capital of East Africa.
At present, the best template in Ernst's hands is Argentina. Argentina is a typical country that started from agriculture, regardless of the various problems in its subsequent industrialization.
Argentina has achieved great success simply by developing agriculture, and East Africa and Argentina also have similarities. They are both sparsely populated and covered with grasslands.
It's just that one is located in the temperate and subtropical zones, and the other is in the tropics, and the land in the East African colonies is only slightly weaker in fertility than the black soil in Argentina.
The amount of precipitation in the two is about the same. In northern Argentina, rainfall can reach about 1500mm, while in the south, it is only about 600mm. In East Africa, it decreases from east to west, reaching a peak in the Great Lakes region. The level in the entire region is between 600mm and 1500mm. .
This level is not bad in the world. Intuitive data: the annual precipitation in the North China Plain is about 600mm, and it is concentrated in July and August.
East Africa has two rainy seasons, the light rainy season from November to December and the heavy rainy season from April to May.
The main reason why the East African colonies focused on developing agriculture was that the cost of developing agriculture was relatively low. As long as the land was reasonably planned and some production tools improved, the requirements for technology and personnel were not as high as those of industry.
If you want to develop agriculture and adopt a "small-scale farmer economy" in this era of law of the jungle, it will definitely be a dead end. If you want to develop agriculture, you will have more than enough to protect yourself, but you will be unable to develop. In the end, you will be defeated by the low-cost advantage of large-scale agricultural production.
The distinctive feature of capitalist agriculture is the centralized management of land. The most prominent contemporary ones are the “Prussian model” and the “American model”.
Its essence is to concentrate land in the hands of a few people, conduct unified management, impact the market with scale advantages, and capture the market to gain huge profits.
Land property rights in the East African colonies were directly in Ernst's hands, so there was no need for top-down reforms like in Prussia.
But Ernst himself did not abuse black people, so it was different from American manors.
In this case, Ernst simply adopted the model of a large farm.
All land in East Africa was Ernst's private property. The immigrants had no property rights and were essentially agricultural workers on the farm.
The way to get remuneration is naturally to work more and get more, and to work less and get less.
Currently, the East African colonies are directly divided into several large agricultural areas based on climate and rainfall, and the same crops are grown uniformly within the areas.
Wheat cultivation is the main area in southern Kenya, including the Great Lakes District in the west, the Solon Lake District, the North Malawi Lake District, the East Malawi Lake District, and the Central Plateau District.
It is determined by the eating habits and market demand of immigrants. Whether they are immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire or immigrants from the Far East and North China, they all have the habit of eating pasta, and the main market for food sales in Europe is naturally wheat-based.
The three coastal areas in the east and the coastal plains of eastern Kenya are dominated by rice cultivation.
To the east of the savanna area and the Great Lakes area, to the northern plateau area, and to the north of Kenya, millet and animal husbandry are developed.
Among them, wheat and animal husbandry were the main means of income generation in the East African colonies in addition to cash crops.
Both of these have a deep market in Europe. Even if Europe cannot squeeze in, the Arabs will still take advantage of it. After all, most Arabs rely on commerce and nomadism to survive, and their own output is too little.
The Far East is not among Ernst's considerations. The main reason is that the Far East is not rich at present, and it is a purely agricultural producing area. It is also poor and the market competition is still fierce.
In the previous life, the most popular crops in East Africa were probably corn and cassava, but Ernst still chose wheat when developing East Africa.
Although corn and cassava are high-yielding, they both have certain shortcomings. The cost of processing is higher than that of wheat. Moreover, due to the eating habits of immigrants and the European market, they still focus on wheat cultivation.
Cash crop, the largest cash crop in the East African colonies is naturally sisal.
In addition to sisal, Ernst plans to plan five important cash crops: oil crop planting, rubber plantation planting, tea planting, cotton planting, and coffee planting.
In addition to these major economic crops, there are also advantageous crops such as cloves and pyrethrum.
In the previous life, East Africa was an important cotton-producing area in Africa. It was planted in all countries in East Africa, so cotton cultivation was not a problem, and the market was relatively easy to find. With Germany as its backing, it could still be digested on one-third of an acre of land in the German region.
There are many choices of oil crops. Traditional oil crops such as peanuts, sesames, and soybeans can all be grown. In East Africa, there are also castor and sunflower seeds...
Rubber plantations are mainly planned in coastal areas and around the Great Lakes, areas with relatively abundant water.
Tea is mainly grown in some mountainous and high-altitude areas. Just plant a large amount of black tea as in the previous life. Europeans can't tell the difference anyway.
These are all crops that need to be produced intensively, and the rest will not be discussed in detail. The land and climate conditions in East Africa are simply too superior.
In the previous life, there was a flower industry in East Africa, as well as various tropical fruits and vegetables. Of course, these Ernsts were also greedy, but the current technical level is not up to it, and large-scale short-term transportation cannot be achieved.
Even for animal husbandry, Ernst had no way to directly develop it on a large scale in East Africa. The entire region of East Africa was suitable for the development of animal husbandry. The problem was that the preservation technology was too slow.
Unless Ernst initially processes meat in East Africa and makes various pickled foods, this will take time.