Chapter 173 The direction of agricultural development in 1869

Chapter 173 The direction of agricultural development in 1869

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

In Ernst's view, agricultural areas were naturally buffer zones during the industrialization era. They could support the population, ensure border security, and not be too distressed when a war broke out. After all, compared with destroying an industrial area, bombing a piece of farmland would It is obviously not painful or itchy (refer to Northeast China and Ukraine), and the follow-up treatment of the farmland is good, and production can be restored quickly.

Of course, this is compared to large countries. For those countries with small land areas and land resources that directly threaten their survival, they must find ways to grab any land around them (see Israel).

If the East African colonies were regarded as a country, their area reached two million square kilometers, which was not considered a small country in any era.

In order to ensure the security of the East African colonies, immigrants gave priority to border areas, which is very consistent with the actual situation in East Africa, which has a relatively sparse population.

The current border areas in East Africa, except for those close to Somalia, are basically good land, including 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 both good places with abundant water resources.

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

Asked how to solve the problem of France turning black in his previous life, Ernst believes that it is to be able to give birth. If French natives can really give birth, then it is not a problem of France turning black, but the problem of French colonies (West Africa and North Africa) turning white.

The immigrants of this era, especially those from the East African colonies, were mainly farmers, and they had the highest fertility rate.

Dividing them at the border will not do any harm to East Africa if these overpopulations overflow in the future, whether inward or outward.

Judging from past experience, one of the easiest ways for tropical agriculture to go astray is to blindly plant cash crops for economic gain, which ultimately leads to the loss of food autonomy.

Therefore, in East Africa, Ernst always adhered to the bottom line of mainly planting food crops. Otherwise, like the previous generation of German East Africa, plantations were built all over East Africa, and the East African colonies could make profits from plantations alone.

An important measure that Ernst took to ensure food security in East Africa was to plant a little of everything. Planting a single crop was prone to major losses. For example, the Great Famine in Ireland was caused by potato fungus.

Nowadays, the East African colonies basically have all the staple foods that can be grown, except barley and other crops suitable for cold zone cultivation.

In 1869, East Africa should continue to promote the cultivation of a variety of staple food crops, and at the same time continue to expand the introduction of cash crops in East Africa.

It can be said that the introduction of cash 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 can still be done if you think of a way. For example, rubber is native to South America. In previous lives, it was rumored that Brazil banned the export of rubber seeds and saplings.

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

Wycohan openly claimed to have stolen 70,000 hevea seeds from the Santarem region of Brazil.

In fact, historians later discovered that the Brazilian government at that time may not have banned the export of rubber seeds. Wei Kehan's description was probably self-promotion.

Naturally, Ernst wanted to test whether the Brazilian government of this era was really as strict about rubber control as Witkohan described.

The facts are obvious. Rubber has now been grown in East Africa. It is possible that the Brazilian government did control rubber at some time, but the people Ernst sent to Brazil did not encounter this situation.

And given the current chaotic situation in South America (the 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 small quantities in other countries. It can basically be concluded that the information obtained from the marketing account in this previous life is false.

In this era, most countries have poor organizational capabilities, and it is very difficult to control something.

Moreover, the colonists may not negotiate with you for what they want. They can just grab it directly. With the gun to their foreheads, you decide whether it is okay or not.

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

Therefore, East Africa has achieved very good results in the introduction of cash crops. More than 20 types of tea have been introduced.

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

The current development strategy for East African agriculture is to further improve tool innovation, speed up livestock breeding, and speed up the construction of water conservancy facilities.

The cost of mechanization was too high, and before the advent of the diesel engine, cattle and horses were the most important source of power in agriculture.

Backed by Berlin Energy Power Company, in the future East Africa can just pay for the tickets and get on the train, skipping the stage of agricultural steam engines.

It is true that steam engines are too expensive and not very efficient. Even if they are introduced vigorously now, it is not cost-effective. Only those countries with deep pockets can use steam agricultural machinery (the United Kingdom and the United States, etc.).

Historically, even the largest agricultural steam engine manufacturer in the United States only produced more than 36,000 units. This shows that this thing is not affordable for ordinary people in the United States.

After all, more than 36,000 agricultural steam engines are placed on the soil of the United States, and they cannot make a splash.

Food must be eaten one bite at a time, and agricultural development must be in line with the actual conditions of 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 plan for East Africa and must be taken seriously at all times.

In 1868, apart from the war, the most important thing in East Africa was the construction of roads and water conservancy facilities.

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

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

Human energy is limited. East Africa relies on current productivity, and the per capita development of about 12.75 acres of land is already the limit. Subsequent land development still depends on the number of new immigrants.

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