Chapter 624: Requesting People
The population of Somalia is not small in East Africa, at least compared with the southwest region. There are nearly 700,000 people living in an area of more than 800,000 square kilometers, and all of them are immigrants. Because of its geographical location, Somalia was the first to clear out the indigenous population.
Of course, the Somali desert is not small in area, but it is not the entire Somali region. The eastern part is mainly desert, but the western part is mainly grassland climate. The Somali region controlled by East Africa is much larger than the Somali territory in the previous life.
Although the northern coast was not occupied by East Africa, the large area of territory in the west that should have belonged to Ethiopia was divided up by the Northern Province, Juba Province, and Turkana Province. At the same time, part of the former Kenyan area was also incorporated into the Juba Province. This is also an important reason why the area of the Somalia region in East Africa is even larger than in the previous life.
Although the tropical savanna climate in the west is better than the tropical desert climate, the population of Somalia is still mainly distributed in the oases and river banks in the east.
"As of 1880, the Northern Province has developed more than 600,000 hectares of arable land, of which more than 70% are tropical plantations opened up in recent years. There is a small amount of grain output, but it is not for the purpose of satisfying the province's food self-sufficiency. It is mainly to provide food guarantee for the northern border garrison at any time. More food gaps are transported from the south by sea, but the province's food self-sufficiency rate still reaches about 60%." Roman Karin introduced to the commissioner sent by the central government.
The Northern Province is able to maintain a high rate of food self-sufficiency while fully promoting the tropical economic plantation industry, all thanks to its vast land area and very sparse population.
Of course, the sparse population here is mainly compared with other countries. After all, Somalia is larger than Germany, but its population is less than 700,000. In this case, there is no population pressure at all.
In the traditional sense, the arable land area of Somalia is about 8 million hectares, while the Somalia region in East Africa includes parts of Ethiopia and Kenya, so the arable land area exceeds 10 million hectares, and there is also a large amount of agricultural land suitable for grassland and forest land.
What a concept! In the past, the area of the Western Regions Province of the Far Eastern Empire was twice the area of the two provinces of Somalia in East Africa, which is about 1.6 million square kilometers, but the arable land area was only more than 7 million hectares.
Of course, the national conditions of Somalia in the past were not much worse than those of the Somalia region in East Africa. Its arable land area was more than 8 million hectares, which was still more than that of the Western Regions Province.
Of course, the arable land area is not equal to the cultivated land area. In the past, the developed cultivated land area of the Federal Republic of Somalia was only about one million square hectares, while the developed cultivated land area of the Western Region Province reached about four million hectares.
Not to mention, the per-acre yield of the Western Region Province far exceeds that of the Federal Republic of Somalia, and the degree of mechanization has reached more than 80%.
Therefore, it is understandable that the Federal Republic of Somalia suffered from famine every year in the past. Even if it is politically stable, it is difficult to get rid of this problem, unless a very effective centralized and unified government emerges to carry out all-round transformation of Somalia, at least develop water conservancy construction, then the arable land area in Somalia can at least increase several times.
In the East African version of Somalia, the precipitation can even reach over 500 mm in the western plateau area and over 1,500 mm in the mountainous area. These conditions are much stronger than those in the Western Regions Province.
Therefore, the water shortage problem in the Somalia region of East Africa is not significant, especially in the case of a small population. Although the Shabelle River and the Juba River are seasonal, there is only a risk of dry-up in one or two months a year, usually around February or March. By avoiding this time period, agricultural production work in Somalia can be arranged calmly.
Therefore, the conditions in Somalia are not as difficult as imagined. It can even be said that it is a region with relatively developed agricultural economy in East Africa, which brings huge profits to the East African government every year. Now East Africa is still investing money inland, and Somalia has started to make money. This is also the most important factor for the East African Central Government to agree to the "Eurasian Fruit Basket Plan" and the confidence for the Northern Province and Juba Province to implement the plan.
"So under this circumstance, I think the government should increase the immigration quota for our northern provinces this year. You know, even some provinces in the southwest were established later than us, but their populations have surpassed ours. What's more, the implementation of the 'Eurasian Fruit Basket Plan' requires more workers and farmers."
Commissioner Modlain did not give in easily, but asked in return: "There should be quite a few workers doing development work in the Shabelle River Basin in the Northern Province this year. Can we use them to offset the loss first?"
The water conservancy construction project in East Africa is a major national project, and the Northern Province is naturally included in it, so Modlain asked questions from this aspect.
"Commissioner Modlain, you may not know that although the national water conservancy construction project mentioned our Northern Province, it was only mentioned. You should know this project better than me. Anyone who sees it will have a share, but it actually tends to be inland provinces and regions, especially those that rely mainly on food. Do you know how many people the government allocated to participate in water conservancy construction in Somalia last year?"
"How many?"
"More than 3,400 people in total!" Roman Karlin said helplessly.
"Is that all?" Modlain was a little surprised.
"That's just the extent of it. The national water conservancy construction project is said to employ millions of workers, plus other linked personnel. Most of the country will be directly or indirectly involved in it, but our northern province has only received more than 3,000 people. Is that reasonable?" Roalman Karin complained.
"This is not the most important thing. Our province is very different from the western and southern parts of the country. We have eliminated all black people in the province, but we have lost a lot of labor. The achievements that the northern province has made today are entirely the result of the concerted efforts of the whole province."
The problem is certainly not as exaggerated as Roalman Karlin said, because East Africa itself inherited the legacy of the Geredi Sultanate, including farmland, water conservancy facilities, roads and even buildings left by local indigenous people.
Therefore, Somalia, which was taken over by East Africa, was not a poor place. It already had a certain economic foundation. The Northern Province was just optimizing on this basis.
This is much stronger than many areas in East Africa. For example, the First Town City, as the capital of East Africa, was built on wasteland. Most places in East Africa are undeveloped.
However, the Northern Provincial Government and immigrants did make a lot of efforts. After all, it took a lot of work to redevelop a lot of arable land in Somalia into plantations, dredging rivers, opening canals, and expanding roads. Especially when the population of the Northern Province is only more than 300,000, which is even less than the population of Dar es Salaam. Therefore, Roalman Karin was quite short of manpower and wished he could do the job of two people at once. He had to complain to Modlain.
"Well, that's true, but we can only think of ways to deal with this from the perspective of immigration. Not only is there a shortage of people in your northern province, but there is a shortage of people all over the country. The immigration market is not as hot as it was in previous years. But don't worry, I will report your problem to the central government. Mogadishu is the largest port in East Africa that is closest to the Eurasian continent. I think the central government will also give it serious consideration."
(End of this chapter)
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