Chapter 446 Disaster
As a neighboring country in East Africa, the Wasangali Sultanate is located in the Makohil Coast region along the Gulf of Aden. Compared with its eastern neighbor, the Magirting Sultanate, the Wasangali Sultanate is more fortunate.
In order to ensure national security, East Africa incorporated part of the southern part of the Magirting Sultanate into East Africa in 1869, while the Wasangali Sultanate escaped because its territory was too small. If East Africa really wanted to take the Wasangali Sultanate, it would be a war of annihilation, not a land cession. At present, East Africa has no urgent need for the Gulf of Aden.
As for the Magirting Sultanate, whose territory was occupied, it could only swallow its bitterness in silence.
Occupying the coast of the Gulf of Aden would only make East Africa stand out in the region, without actually bringing any benefits.
Countries like the Geredi Sultanate still have oases along the Shabelle and Juba rivers that can be developed, but the Wasangali Sultanate and the Magirting Sultanate have no decent land at all.
Moreover, the Majir al-Ting Sultanate was, after all, a nominal vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, so keeping it in East Africa was still of some use. It was an important part of maintaining the trade system between East Africa and the Middle East.
East Africa borders the Wasangali Sultanate.
Tens of thousands of locusts are reproducing rapidly. Since April, the Somali Desert has experienced a rare rainfall, which has made the Somali Desert a rare green. However, this has become a breeding ground for desert locusts.
Unlike other locusts, every desert locust outbreak is almost always accompanied by abnormal rainfall in the desert area, while locusts in other areas tend to appear after drought.
In essence, desert locusts are no different from locusts in other areas, except that the climate in the desert is special and it is dry all year round, so precipitation causes the desert to turn green and provides them with more abundant food.
From this point of view, the harm caused by desert locusts to agriculture is far less than that of other locusts. The activity areas of other locusts are originally agricultural areas. Once a disaster occurs, it will inevitably cause serious losses.
However, there is not much agriculture in the areas where desert locusts are active. However, the people in the areas where desert locusts are active are definitely the ones who suffer the most.
The land is barren, the farming industry is underdeveloped, and if the desert locusts swarm like this, it will basically mean a total loss of harvest, and there is no alternative.
To deal with the locust plague, a unified country is needed to rob Peter to repair Paul, at least to ensure that the lives of people in the disaster-stricken areas can continue. Obviously, the broken Ottoman Empire could not do this.
But it is different in East Africa. The east wall of East Africa is so thick that it is not afraid of suffering this loss at all.
"The locusts have already flown here. According to orders from the higher-level government, we cannot sit idly by. We must focus on inspecting potential locust invasion areas along the banks of the Shabelle River and some oasis areas, destroy locust egg-laying areas, and prevent locusts from reproducing and threatening southern pastures and farms." The Northern Provincial Pest Control Center conveyed the order to lower-level agencies.
Subsequently, the Northern Provincial Government began to organize the people to eliminate the desert locusts that remained in the Northern Province.
"This acre of banana plantation is doomed. The leaves are all chewed up and the stalks are all shredded."
"Never mind all that, just set it on fire!"
Desert locusts have a very strong migration ability and can fly more than 150 kilometers in a day with the wind. However, due to the prevailing southwest monsoon in northern East Africa, it is impossible for them to move so fast.
By the time the desert locusts flew to the Shabelle River Basin, several days had passed, while the desert locusts heading north had already crossed the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden into Yemen, heading towards Oman and the Qajar Dynasty (Iran).
Don't underestimate the difference of a few days. The lifespan of a desert locust is only a few months, which is enough time for East Africa to turn over all the riverbanks and wastelands where the locusts may lay eggs.
Because the locust plague broke out in the Wasangali Sultanate, East Africa is unable to control the locusts flying in from neighboring countries.
However, northern East Africa is also an area where desert locusts are active, and the local locusts are still in a normal and harmless state in East Africa.
Once the locusts from the Wasangali Sultanate enter East Africa and mix with them, the locusts in East Africa will also become swarming harmful locusts.
Therefore, this locust eradication operation is actually divided into two parts. One is to eliminate native locusts in the bud, and the other is to reduce the number of foreign locusts hatched in East Africa.
In May, with the launch of the locust eradication operation in the Shabelle River Basin, at least 30% of the locusts were blocked from moving southwards. The cost was a 40% reduction in banana production in the Shabelle River Basin due to the locust plague and delays caused by locust eradication activities. In mid-May, the Juba River Basin, which was on high alert, carried out a major cleanup of the remaining locusts, and the size of the locusts was reduced by another 40%. By the time the locusts entered the northern pastoral areas, they had become a spent force. A small number of northern pastoral areas were affected, and the locusts basically stopped at the edge of the southern Kenyan plateau.
Keeping the northern pastures is very important for East Africa. Currently, the northern pastures are the largest source of livestock in East Africa. The horses and cattle produced there support engineering and farmland construction across the country. It is also an important base for East Africa to export live cattle to the Arab region.
"After this locust plague, we will step up the development of new pastures in the former Transvaal Republic to share risks," Ernst said at a government meeting.
Areas like South Africa and the North are large-scale ranch grazing industries, which are significantly different from the dairy industry in Europe. The dairy industry is an agricultural regional type that develops based on cities and is close to the market, while large-scale ranch grazing is located in vast grassland areas far away from cities and markets.
The main countries with large-scale ranching in the past were the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
This also shows South Africa's advantage in developing large-scale ranch grazing. In fact, the Boers were engaged in this business.
The climate of the South African grasslands is actually more similar to the Pampas of Argentina (due to the latitude), and it is not as susceptible to locusts as the northern pastures, making it a natural high-quality grazing area.
Of course, South Africa’s biggest advantage over northern pastures is that it is suitable for sheep breeding. In the past, South Africa was the world’s fourth largest exporter of sheep wool.
East Africa was still blank in the field of wool textiles, which was a good place for development. At the end of the 18th century, Merino sheep were introduced to the Cape of Good Hope, and Cape Town became the first region to start producing fine clothing. Since then, Cape Town has developed a famous wool industry.
South Africa later became known for its unique "South African wool". This wool is a general term for wool produced in South Africa, known for several different varieties of varying fineness. South African wool is not as elastic as Australian wool, which makes it an ideal fiber for making shawls and socks. So the world's demand for South African wool is quite high, allowing South Africa in the past to have a strong and stable wool industry.
Introducing Merino sheep is not a difficult task. In fact, Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Far East have all introduced this breed in the past, and formed Merino sheep breeds with their own local characteristics.
After the cleansing of the Transvaal Republic in East Africa, most of the Boers took their livestock and headed for the Orange Free State.
If East Africa wants to rebuild pastures in South Africa, it needs ships to transfer livestock from northern pastures to South Africa for replenishment, so as to regain scale advantages in a short period of time.
Of course, it’s not to say that there were no livestock in South Africa. Although East Africa did not rob the Boers, it did not let the Zulus go. All the cattle and sheep raised by the Zulus were confiscated. At the same time, the Zulus were also registered as "laborers" by East Africa and became part of the production tools to develop the new Hamburg Port.
Once the New Hamburg Port is completed, railway construction and the import of livestock from northern ranches can be carried out simultaneously in the New Hamburg Port.
(End of this chapter)
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