Chapter 173 Agricultural Development in 1869
In 1869, East Africa's agricultural plan was mainly to continue to reclaim wasteland, and as in the past, priority was given to reclaiming land in border areas.
In Ernst's view, agricultural areas are natural buffer zones in the industrial age, which can nurture the population and ensure border security, while also not causing too much pain when a war breaks out. After all, compared with destroying an industrial area, bombing a piece of farmland is obviously less painful (see Northeast China, Ukraine), and if the farmland is handled well afterwards, production can be resumed 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 will try every means to grab any land around them (refer to Israel).
If the East African colonies were regarded as a country, its area would reach two million square kilometers, which would not be 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 was in line with the actual situation in East Africa, which had a relatively sparse population.
Except for the border areas near Somalia, most of the land in East Africa is good. The Ruvuma River basin in the south, the shores of Lake Malawi, the shores of Lake Solon (Lake Tanganyika) in the west, the Mitumba Mountains, Lake Frederick (Albert) in the northwest, and the Omo River basin in the north are all 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.
As for how to solve the problem of France becoming darker in the past, Ernst believes that the solution is to be able to give birth. If the native French people can really give birth, then it is not a problem of France becoming darker, but a problem of French colonies (West Africa, North Africa) becoming whiter.
Immigrants of this era, especially those from the East African colonies, were primarily farmers, and they had the highest fertility rate.
If we divide them at the border, the future overflow of these excess populations, whether inward or outward, will not be bad for East Africa.
Based on past experience, one of the easiest ways for tropical agriculture to go astray is to blindly plant cash crops for economic gain, ultimately leading to the loss of food autonomy.
Therefore, Ernst always adhered to the bottom line of planting grain crops in East Africa. Otherwise, like the previous German East Africa, plantations would be built all over East Africa, and the East African colony could make a profit solely through plantations.
One of the important measures Ernst used to ensure food security in East Africa was to grow a little bit of everything. Single-crop planting could easily lead to heavy losses, such as the Irish famine which was caused by a potato fungus.
In the East African colonies today, basically all the staple foods that can be grown are crops suitable for cultivation in cold zones, such as barley.
In 1869, East Africa continued to promote the cultivation of a variety of staple crops, while continuing to expand the introduction of cash crops in East Africa.
It is not easy to introduce cash crops in this era, such as tea, which was originally controlled by its country of origin.
Of course, it is still possible to do it if we think of a way. For example, rubber is native to South America. It was rumored that Brazil banned the export of rubber seeds and seedlings in the past.
The source of the rubber plantation seeds in Southeast Asia in the past was that the British Henry Alexander Wickham stole them from Brazil, brought them back to Britain, and then planted them in Southeast Asia and other regions.
Wickham openly claimed to have stolen 70,000 Hevea brasiliensis seeds from Santarem, Brazil.
In fact, historians later discovered that the Brazilian government at the time might not have banned the export of rubber seeds, and Wickham's description was probably just self-boasting.
Ernst naturally wanted to test whether the Brazilian government of that era really controlled rubber as strictly as Wickham described.
The fact is obvious. Rubber has been planted in East Africa. It is possible that the Brazilian government did control 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 (Paraguayan 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 the previous life is false.
In this era, most countries have poor organizational capabilities, and it is very difficult to control certain things.
What’s more, the colonists may not necessarily discuss with you about what they want. They will just rob you directly. With a gun to your head, do you think it’s okay?
The bureaucrats in many countries of this era were quite bad, and it was quite difficult to expect them to achieve anything. For example, in countries like Tsarist Russia and Brazil, basically things got done by spending money, which made it very easy for great nobles and capitalists like Ernst to infiltrate.
Therefore, East Africa has achieved very good results in the introduction of cash crops, with more than 20 varieties of tea alone being introduced.
In addition, the East African Agricultural Research Institute is currently investigating and researching native plants in East Africa, and many species unique to East Africa will be developed in the future.
The current development strategy for East African agriculture is to further enhance tool innovation, accelerate livestock breeding, and speed up 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.
Backed by the Berlin Energy and Power Company, East Africa will only need to buy a ticket and get on board in the future, skipping the agricultural steam engine stage.
The truth is that steam engines are too expensive and not very efficient. Even if we introduce them in a big way now, it is not cost-effective. Only those wealthy countries (such as Britain and the United States) can afford steam agricultural machinery.
Historically, even the largest agricultural steam engine manufacturer in the United States only produced more than 36,000 units. It can be seen that this thing is not affordable for ordinary people in the United States.
After all, more than 36,000 agricultural steam engines placed on American soil would not cause even a single splash.
Food must be eaten bite by bite, and agricultural development must conform to the actual situation in East Africa. Now East Africa is only suitable for developing livestock power such as 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 long-term plan for East Africa and must be taken seriously at all times.
In 1868, apart from war, the most important thing in East Africa was the construction of roads and water conservancy facilities.
In particular, the application of windmills. In the second half of the year alone, East Africa built tens of thousands of agricultural irrigation windmills, greatly improving the efficiency of agricultural irrigation.
As for the agricultural planting area in East Africa, in 1869 it also depended on the number of new immigrants entering East Africa.
Human energy is limited. Relying on the current productivity in East Africa, the average land development per capita is about 12.75 mu, which is already the limit. The subsequent land development will still depend 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 designated inland areas. Only after they arrive at the designated locations can they develop new land, while the original immigrants will naturally continue to manage the already developed land.
(End of this chapter)
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