Chapter 173 The direction of agricultural development in 1869
In 1869, East Africa's agricultural plan was mainly to continue to reclaim wasteland, and as before, priority should be given to reclaiming land in border areas.
In Ernst’s view, agricultural areas were naturally buffer zones during the industrialization era. They could support the population, ensure border security, and not be too distressed when a war broke out. After all, it would be the same as destroying an industrial area. In comparison, bombing a piece of farmland is obviously painless and painless (see Northeast China and Ukraine), and if the farmland is treated well, production can be restored quickly.
Of course, this is compared to large countries. For those countries with small land areas and land resources that directly threaten their survival, they must find ways to grab any land around them (see Israel).
If the East African colonies were regarded as a country, their area reached two million square kilometers, which was not 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 is very consistent with the actual situation in East Africa, which has a relatively sparse population.
Except for being close to Somalia, the current border areas in East Africa are basically good land. The Rufuma River Basin in the south, the coast of Lake Malawi, and the coast of Lake Solon (Lake Tanganyika) in the west. The Mitumba Mountains, Lake Friedrich (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.
Asking how to solve the problem of France turning black in the previous life, according to Ernst, it is to be able to give birth. If French natives can really give birth, it will not be France turning black, but the French colonies (West Africa, North Africa) The problem of whitening.
The immigrants of this era, especially those from the East African colonies, were mainly farmers, and they had the highest fertility rate.
Dividing them at the border will not do any harm to East Africa if these overpopulations overflow in the future, whether inward or outward.
Judging from past experience, one of the easiest ways for tropical agriculture to go astray is to blindly plant cash crops for economic gain, which ultimately leads to the loss of food autonomy.
Therefore, Ernst always adhered to the bottom line of mainly planting food crops in East Africa. Otherwise, like the German East Africa in the previous life, plantations were built all over East Africa. The East African colonies could make profits from plantations alone.
An important measure that Ernst took to ensure food security in East Africa was to grow a little of everything. Planting a single crop was prone to heavy losses. For example, the Great Famine in Ireland was caused by potato fungus.
Nowadays in the East African colonies, basically all the staple foods that can be grown are available, except for barley and other crops suitable for cold zone cultivation.
In 1869, East Africa should continue to promote the cultivation of a variety of staple food crops, and at the same time continue to expand the introduction of East African cash crops.
It can be said that the introduction of cash crops is not very easy in this era, such as tea, a crop that was originally controlled by the country of origin.
Of course, you can still do it if you think of a way. For example, rubber is native to South America. In previous lives, it was rumored that Brazil banned the export of rubber seeds and saplings.
The source of rubber plantation seeds in Southeast Asia in the previous life was that the British Henry Alexander Wickham stole them from Brazil and brought them back to England and planted them in Southeast Asia and other regions.
Weike Han openly claimed to have stolen 70,000 hevea tree seeds from the Santarem region of Brazil
In fact, historians later discovered that the Brazilian government at that time may not have banned the export of rubber seeds. Wei Kehan's description was probably self-promotion.
And Ernst naturally wanted to try whether the Brazilian government of this era really had such strict control over rubber as described by Wei Kehan.
The fact is obvious. Rubber has been planted in East Africa now. It is possible that the Brazilian government did control rubber at some time, but the people Ernst sent to Brazil did not encounter this situation. Moreover, given the current chaotic situation in South America (the Paraguay War), it is difficult for so many countries in South America to have such strong organizational capabilities.
And 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 this previous life is false.
In this era, most countries have poor organizational capabilities, and it is very difficult to control certain things.
And what the colonists want may not be negotiated with you. They can just grab it directly. With the gun to the forehead, you say whether it is okay or not.
The bureaucrats in many countries in this era are quite poor. It is very difficult to expect them to make a difference. For example, countries like Tsarist Russia and Brazil basically spend money to do things. For a big man like Ernst Very easy for nobles and big capitalists to penetrate.
So East Africa has achieved very good results in the introduction of cash crops. More than 20 types of tea have been introduced.
And the East African Agricultural Research Institute is conducting inspections and research on native plants in East Africa, and many species unique to East Africa will also be developed in the future.
The current development strategy for East African agriculture is to further improve tool innovation, speed up livestock breeding, and speed up the construction of water conservancy facilities.
The cost of mechanization is too high, and before the advent of the diesel engine, cattle and horses were the most important source of power in agriculture.
With the support of Berlin Energy Power Company, in the future, East Africa can just pay the ticket and get on the train, skipping the stage of agricultural steam engines.
Steam engines are really too expensive and not very efficient. Even if they are introduced vigorously now, it is not cost-effective. Only those countries with deep pockets can use steam agricultural machinery (Britain and the United States, etc.).
Historically, even the largest agricultural steam engine manufacturer in the United States only produced more than 36,000 units. This shows that this thing is not affordable for ordinary people in the United States.
After all, more than 36,000 agricultural steam engines are placed on the soil of the United States, and they cannot make a splash.
Eating must be eaten in one bite, and agricultural development must be in line with the actual conditions of East Africa. Now East Africa is only suitable for developing the livestock power of 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 century-old plan for East Africa and must be taken seriously at all times.
In addition to the war in East Africa in 1868, the most important thing was the construction of roads and water conservancy facilities.
Especially the application of windmills. In the second half of the year alone, tens of thousands of agricultural irrigation windmills were built in East Africa, greatly improving the efficiency of agricultural irrigation.
As for the agricultural planting area in East Africa, it also depends on the situation of new immigrants entering East Africa in 1869.
Human energy is limited. East Africa relies on current productivity and the per capita development of about 12.75 acres of land is already the limit. Subsequent land development still depends on the number of new immigrants.
For example, some of the newly arrived immigrants in East Africa in December 1868 may still be on their way to the designated areas in the interior. Only after they reach the designated areas can they develop new land, and the original immigrants will naturally continue to Take care of developed land.
(End of this chapter)