Chapter 824 Mechanization and Land Reclamation

First town city.

Ernst: "The development of Angola and Mozambique is an urgent issue, but now we are facing a population shortage. At the same time, the public security management in the two places has not been completely ended. A large number of black people have fled to various places during the war. In addition, due to poor infrastructure, the government should come up with a charter for the development of the two places. How to use and develop, and how to allocate resources are important issues."

After taking over Angola and Mozambique, economic development in the two places was no longer a regional issue, but a national issue of resource allocation.

Simply put, investment in each place in East Africa is uneven. In the 1960s and 1970s, East Africa focused on developing the eastern coastal areas. In the 1980s, it vigorously developed the central provinces, especially Matabele Province. Now that Ernst has set the tone, the priority for economic development has of course become Angola and Mozambique.

Von der Leyen said: "Several provinces in the central region actually have great development potential. Take the Hohenzollern Province for example. The forest coverage rate has reached 70%, and a large number of areas have not yet been developed. On the contrary, the situation in Matabele Province, which has a typical grassland climate, is slightly better. However, the development of Mozambique will definitely be beneficial to the central region, especially Matabele Province. The shortcoming of Matabele Province is that it is not close to the sea. After the development of Mozambique, it can further activate the economy of Matabele Province and at the same time connect the central and eastern parts of our country."

Siwei Te countered: "The problem now is how we can invest so many people. In the 1970s and 1980s, East Africa absorbed a large number of immigrants, which enabled the eastern and central regions to develop rapidly. However, in the late 1980s, the number of immigrants in my country had dropped to a historical low. Last year, there were only more than 2,000 immigrants in my country. Although this was affected by the war, in 1888, the immigrant population was only more than 5,000, and the war had not yet broken out."

Von der Leyen: "It is not that this problem cannot be solved. In the short term, we can rely on the indigenous Africans and the resources left by the Portuguese to temporarily develop Mozambique and Angola."

“And we don’t necessarily have to develop the entire region of the two places, but rather focus on key areas, such as northern Angola and southern Mozambique, which are the essence of the two places and where the assets left by the Portuguese are the most abundant.”

"Take Mozambique as an example. We can temporarily divide Mozambique into two parts, with the Zambezi River as the boundary, namely North Mozambique and South Mozambique."

“Northern Mozambique has been under our rule for many years. Since the First Portuguese-Eastern War, the total population of Northern Mozambique is more than 300,000, concentrated in the northern region.”

"Southern Mozambique currently has a large number of blacks and a small number of Portuguese people. Southern Mozambique is positioned as an important agricultural base in the future that can be compared with the Great Lakes region in my country."

"According to the current situation in Mozambique, the basic conditions in the south are better than those in the north. During the Portuguese colonial period, the economic activities of the entire Mozambique colony revolved around Maputo in the southernmost part, so the economy in southern Mozambique was more developed and the population was concentrated."

"During the Portuguese colonial period, southern Mozambique became a plantation and labor source for Portuguese colonists. Portuguese colonists introduced a large number of African laborers and slaves to work in plantations and mines, leading to a highly active immigration phenomenon."

"Plantations in the south are more than ten times larger than those in the north and are more evenly distributed, extending all the way to the middle reaches of rivers such as the Limpopo, whereas in the north they are concentrated in a few coastal areas."

“Portuguese colonists established numerous plantations in the region, mainly growing commodity crops such as rubber, coffee, sugar and cotton.”

"Currently, our army has taken over 457 large and medium-sized plantations, but only less than 70 have resumed production. We urgently need to send personnel to southern Mozambique to resume plantation management."

"This will create a lot of jobs and make it easier for people in the eastern region to migrate. In the early stages, their main responsibility is management, so as long as there are no major problems, it is completely acceptable."

"After the production in the two places is restored, we can then carry out all-round transportation and economic construction to connect the two places with the central and eastern parts of the country. At the same time, the indigenous residents who are transferred to infrastructure construction will be gradually replaced by local citizens, so that Angola and Mozambique can gradually get back on track."

Everyone agrees with what von der Leyen said, but in this case, the development of Angola and Mozambique will definitely not be accelerated. After all, relying solely on the immigration of citizens of the country to the two places will be a long process.

At this time, Ernst spoke up and said to the officials: "The above suggestions are quite conventional, so I would like to add one more point, that is, the construction of the two places this time should not be limited to the past, but should focus on the progress of the current era."

"In the past, agricultural development and urban construction were both very slow processes, but in the industrial age, this situation has changed fundamentally. The development of industrialization has greatly enhanced our ability to transform nature. A large number of emerging cities have emerged in Europe and North America, especially in mining areas such as the Ruhr area. Many small villages or even wastelands have been transformed directly into industrial areas where many cities have emerged. The same is true for the Great Lakes region in the United States. Not to mention other countries, our Matabele Province is a typical example."

"But at the end of the 19th century, the situation changed again. At present, the development of agricultural machinery has entered a new stage. In addition to traditional steam power, internal combustion engine power is also maturing rapidly."

"East Africa is a country with relatively backward agriculture. Our agricultural machinery penetration rate is far lower than that of countries such as Britain, France and Germany. Therefore, the development of Mozambique and Angola can start with new technologies to increase the penetration rate of machinery and replace a certain amount of manual labor."

"This will not only promote our development in the two regions, but also expand our domestic market. For example, Matabele Province and South Salzburg Province, which have advantages in agricultural machinery production, can focus on modern large-scale agricultural machinery to develop related industries and promote them in Mozambique and Angola."

"Of course, this means we must also develop large farms similar to those in the United States in Mozambique and Angola and increase the utilization of machinery."

"Especially the southern Mozambique plains, where the natural conditions are excellent, the terrain is flat, and the soil and water are abundant. We definitely cannot leave such high-quality arable land unattended."

"Mozambique is close to developed regions such as Matabele Province and South Salzburg Province, which is conducive to direct industrial connection between the two provinces to support Mozambique's agricultural development."

According to Ernst's plan, a number of large-scale medium-sized and large state-owned farms will be developed in southern Mozambique, using machinery to replace a large amount of manpower.

This will not only enable effective local development, but also promote the development of industrial sectors such as East Africa's machinery manufacturing and automobile manufacturing industries.

Of course, given East Africa’s current technological level and production capacity limitations, Ernst’s goal is certainly not achievable in a short period of time.

However, the fact that it cannot be achieved at present is not a problem at all. We should not be impatient for quick success in the development of Mozambique and Angola.

The East African governments still need to proceed from reality and adopt a multi-pronged approach, so that they can always make a breakthrough in one aspect, thereby realizing the effective utilization and development of the two places and continuing to expand the economic scale of East Africa.

In this meeting, Ernst's real purpose, besides being concerned about the development of Angola and Mozambique, was actually to further explore the mechanization and scale of agriculture in East Africa.

(End of this chapter)