Chapter 1478 Destruction of Agricultural Products

Anyone can point fingers and comment on East Africa, except the "outlier" Soviet Union. After all, compared with what the Soviet Union did, what East Africa did was nothing. With the consolidation of the status and power of Soviet leader Joseph, the political purge within the Soviet Union is now much more severe than that in East Africa.

In 1929, the Soviet Union's first five-year plan was officially launched, marking the complete end of the New Economic Policy era.

The end of the New Economic Policy also meant a radical change in the Soviet economy, and this series of changes was basically aimed at completely abolishing private ownership and the free market, promoting thorough nationalization and collectivization. During this process, the Soviet Union was full of murderous intent, with more people in prisons than in East Africa, and a large number of economic criminals, hooligans, speculators, political gangs... were exiled to the icy Siberia for reform.

Compared with the Soviet Union, the current domestic turmoil in East Africa is completely insignificant and petty.

Of course, there were fierce political struggles within the Soviet Union, but the Soviet Union in 1929 was generally considered the most vibrant country in the world. From Eastern Europe to the Far East, from Moscow to small border towns, a wave of construction swept across the country.

At the same time, the Soviet Union was very different from other countries in the field of national construction at this stage. Specifically, many Soviet cadres also participated in the front line of national economic construction. Therefore, the Soviet people in 1929 were full of enthusiasm and hope for the future of their country.

Anyway, East African officials cannot do this. A few decades ago, East African officials were considered the youngest, most pragmatic and energetic group in the world. Now...

Rhine Palace.

Enns commented with particular interest on the editorial in the Soviet newspaper Pravda.

"The Soviet government is quite humorous, but it is understandable that it does this when it comes to ideological struggles. However, making such remarks at this time shows that the Soviet Union's diplomatic level is not much different from that of the Tsarist Russia."

Crown Prince Friedrich quite agrees with this point: "We have just expressed goodwill to the Soviet Union and provided some assistance to their industrial construction this time, but their official mouthpieces are following other countries to dictate our internal affairs. It is really hard to understand."

At this stage, the relationship between East Africa and the Soviet Union is actually on the rise. At least among many imperialist countries, East Africa is the first country to try to "break the ice". It is undeniable that East Africa's motives for friendship with the Soviet Union are impure, but considering the Soviet Union's current situation, it can be regarded as a timely help.

Just like when the Soviet Union was carrying out industrial construction, East Africa provided a lot of support, especially in the technical level. For example, the automobile factories, tractor factories, steel mills, power plants, etc. that the Soviet Union was building all had East Africa behind them. At the same time, East Africa increased its exports of raw materials to the Soviet Union, such as cotton, rubber, grain, non-ferrous metals, etc.

These are extremely beneficial supplements to the Soviet Union's current industrial construction. In addition to technical support, the export of East African agricultural and mining products is also very important to the Soviet Union.

Take cotton for example. As a country in a high-altitude area, the Soviet Union lacks cotton producing areas. As for Central Asia, before large-scale transformation, it is obviously unable to bear the responsibility of self-sufficiency in raw materials for the Soviet textile industry.

Therefore, the Soviet Union had to import cotton from overseas. The Soviet Union imported cotton mainly from four countries, namely East Africa, Egypt, India and the United States. Egypt and India were British colonies, so the three most important countries for Soviet cotton exports were East Africa, Britain and the United States.

East Africa is the country that exports the most cotton to the Soviet Union. This is also related to the historical origins of East Africa and the Soviet Union. As early as the Tsarist Russia period, East Africa had become the main cotton supplier to Central and Eastern Europe, which naturally included Tsarist Russia.

Before the 1870s, Tsarist Russia basically relied on imports for cotton, with imported cotton accounting for more than 90 percent, most of which came from the southern cotton-producing areas of the United States.

After the 1970s, with a series of conquests by Tsarist Russia in Central Asia, this created the possibility for the Tsarist Russia's cotton seed industry, and it began to actively promote cotton planting in Central Asia.

By the end of the 19th century, Russia's cotton self-sufficiency rate had reached 40 percent, but it still relied on imports for 60 percent. At the same time, with the rise of the cotton industry in India and East Africa, Russia also expanded its import channels.

Before the collapse of Tsarist Russia, the share of imported cotton in the market had fallen to less than 50 percent, but even if there was a remaining 40 to 50 percent, the gap would still be huge.

Nowadays, the import proportion of cotton in the Soviet Union is about 30 to 40%, but unlike Tsarist Russia, the Soviet Union faces a blockade by imperialist countries. Even if it has channels to obtain cotton, its cost is much higher than that of Tsarist Russia.

Therefore, East African cotton became one of the most important choices for the Soviet Union. Every year, many East African ships that arrived at the Black Sea along the Red Sea were loaded with large amounts of cotton and other raw materials to supply the development of the Soviet textile industry.

In addition, rubber is also an important strategic resource indispensable for industrial development, and East Africa and the United Kingdom became the Soviet Union's most important suppliers. Most of the world's rubber producing areas are basically controlled by these two countries, followed by the United States, France, the Netherlands and other countries.

East Africa's supply of rubber to the Soviet Union was basically in large quantities, and one of the important factors was to limit the development of the Soviet synthetic rubber industry. A similar case is the export of diamonds.

In the past, the Soviet Union's synthetic rubber industry was relatively developed. One of the main reasons for the rapid development of the Soviet Union's synthetic rubber industry was the blockade by imperialist countries. Therefore, East Africa was quite determined to meet the Soviet Union's rubber import demand as much as possible in this regard.

In short, the trade between East Africa and the Soviet Union seems harmless, but in fact it is full of hidden secrets and is intended to make Soviet industry dependent on East Africa as much as possible.

Ernst said to Friedrich: "The Soviet Union is a special country. We don't need to bother with them. We just need to do our own thing. Their scolding is not a bad thing for us. After all, the Soviet Union is a taboo in the entire international community. Their behavior is beneficial to our participation in international affairs."

It would have been fatal if the Soviet Union had praised East Africa instead of scolding it. Many countries might have regarded East Africa as a "traitor" to capitalist countries based on this fact, saying that East Africa is good at "working".

Friedrich nodded and said, "It is indeed not a good thing to be involved with the Soviet Union. After all, we are a member of imperialism and theoretically cannot have anything to do with the Soviet Union."

In theory, they should not have any connection with the Soviet Union, and even had to show extreme disgust and aversion to the Soviet Union. But in fact, the countries in the world that seem to be the most anti-Soviet, East Africa, Britain and the United States, are actually the three countries that have the most close ties with the Soviet Union.

On the contrary, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Japan rarely had verbal battles with the Soviet Union, but they were the most staunch anti-Soviet elements.

…

Northern pastures.

Since the last century, the arid grassland area between Somalia and the East African Plateau has become one of the most important pastures in East Africa. Along the banks of the Tana River to the delta area downstream, there is abundant grass and water, and a large number of cattle, sheep and horses are domesticated.

After entering the 20th century, with the expansion of East Africa's territory and the rise of other large ranches, local industries have had a huge impact. At the same time, with East Africa's transformation from an agricultural country to an industrial country, the share of imported dairy and livestock products in the East African domestic market has continued to increase.

For example, beef, leather and dairy products from South American countries such as Argentina and Paraguay have entered the East African market as trade with East Africa has expanded. These high-quality livestock producing areas have large outputs, and the quality of their livestock products is difficult to match in most pastoral areas in East Africa. Therefore, under the fierce competition in domestic and foreign markets, the glory of the northern pastures is no longer there.

At the same time, due to environmental problems, the climate of the northern pastures has also deteriorated significantly. The northern deserts are moving southward and eroding due to grassland degradation caused by overgrazing, which has made the already depressed northern pastures even worse.

At the end of 1929, the East African government officially decided to reorganize and manage this large ranch that made important contributions to the early development of East Africa on the grounds of protecting the environment, controlling the desert, and restoring the ecology. The East African government environmental investigation team officially moved into the city of Garissa.

The city of Garissa, located on the banks of the upper reaches of the Tana River, is the largest city in the region and an important distribution center for agricultural and pastoral products.

Unlike the lower reaches, the upper reaches of the Tana River are basically in the desert. The Tana River is like a green Great Wall, dotted in the yellow sand. Except for one side adjacent to the Tana River, the city of Garissa is surrounded by yellow sand on three sides. The city's pillar industry is animal husbandry, which is basically developed around the two sides of the Tana River.

Inside the Garissa Municipality Office.

Yang Fan, head of the investigation team, spoke to the main officials of the municipal government.

“Mayor Cole, the environmental problems in Garissa have obviously had a serious impact on the regional ecology. In the past few days, we have seen many shocking situations along the Tana River.”

"A large amount of vegetation and grasslands have been destroyed, and a large amount of sand has been exposed on the river bank. The fine sand and gravel have been eroded and swallowed by the river water, turning the entire river channel yellow, carrying a lot of silt down the river. Twenty years ago, the ecology on both sides of the Tana River was far from as bad as it is today."

"If overgrazing continues and pastures and farmlands are developed without restraint, the Tana River is likely to disappear in the long river of history. At the same time, the sediment problem will also cause great trouble to the downstream."

“Therefore, Garissa City must take immediate action to stop the destructive development on both sides of the Tana River, restore the local ecology, reduce the number of livestock, reduce the number and area of ​​pastures, and at the same time plant a large number of trees and grass to restore the ecology on both sides of the river…”

Mayor Cole said to Yang Fan with a bitter look on his face: "Team Leader Yang Fan, it's easy for you to say that, but the pillar industry of our Garissa City is animal husbandry, which is related to the livelihoods of thousands of residents in our city. If these ranches are closed, how can our finances and the lives of the people be guaranteed?"

Yang Fan didn't pay much attention to his words, but continued to speak bluntly: "Mayor Cole, since you mentioned the livelihood of the residents, let me ask you, if you don't make any changes to the current industrial structure, how many years can the Tana River last?"

"The Tana River itself is not a big river. It has little water. The local climate is also very dry and the ecology is very fragile. At your current development speed, the ecology of the entire upper reaches of the Tana River will completely collapse in less than a decade."

"By then, the entire Tana River will not need to worry about livelihood issues. Even a decent piece of land where people can survive for a long time may not be many."

"So, don't talk about difficulties. The current development of Garissa City will ruin its future. When the time comes, your officials will just walk away. Who will take care of the people of Garissa City? Therefore, your most important task now is to restore the local ecology. Only then can we talk about the future."

"As for the current situation, the possible troubles are minor problems compared to this. Besides, since the government has sent an investigation team this time, it shows the central government's attitude towards the management of the Tana River Basin in the future."

“So, at this time, Garissa City cannot just focus on the economic account, but also needs to calculate the environmental account more clearly. Whether Garissa City can successfully transform in the future is also related to your future.”

Following Yang Fan's words, the Garissa City Government also realized that they had no right to refuse this time. The central government's attitude was very clear, which was to make Garissa City suffer a blow on itself, and Garissa City's pillar industry, animal husbandry, would inevitably be hit hard.

Mayor Cole then changed the subject and asked, "Then how should our city transform? I'm sure you, Team Leader Yang Fan, know that apart from grazing, our city doesn't have many options. Even some of the city's industries are basically centered around dairy and livestock product processing. Garissa has a small population, inconvenient transportation, and no decent resources."

In this regard, Yang Fan said: "As I said before, the only option for Garissa City at present is to restore the local ecology and prevent the further spread of the desert. However, this does not mean that agriculture in Garissa City should be completely abolished."

"Instead, we should focus on environmental protection and develop sustainable agriculture. You can refer to the experience of Juba Province and Northern Province, where they are taking the path of sustainable development in the agricultural sector."

"In addition, you can also actively broaden your thinking and focus on developing tourism, service industries and other industries. After all, Garissa is a relatively distinctive city in the entire empire, and it is not too far from economically developed areas."

The so-called developed areas mentioned by Yang Fan are basically the northern railway line, including Mombasa, the largest city in East Africa, the important industrial city of Nairobi, Kisumu and so on.

Of course, Yang Fan seemed to be making sense, but in fact, even if Garissa City adjusted its industrial structure according to this idea, it might not achieve any results. However, this is not important. After all, Garissa City was originally relatively unremarkable in East Africa, and it was basically dispensable before, so adjusting its industrial structure would not be too bad.

This time, the East African government's attention here is not actually because it is really interested in the so-called "environmental issues", but under the slogan of protecting the ecological environment, it is destroying the country's excess agricultural output in order to prepare for the impact of the subsequent economic crisis.

(End of this chapter)