Chapter 827 Plantation to Farm
Of course, the coastal areas of East Africa are export-oriented economies and do not represent the whole picture of East Africa, especially the inland areas where the national conditions are very different. Fernandez had only seen the rapid development and rapid development on the surface of East Africa before. Prosperity, what the specific situation is, it takes a while to experience it before you can have a deep understanding.
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Maputo City.
“At present, we have restored production in 71 plantations around Maputo. Originally, there were 400 to 500 large and small plantations around Maputo. The plantations were fully integrated, eventually forming seventy-one super-large plantations.”
“The main force working on the plantations were black slaves left by the Portuguese. The Portuguese had more than 40,000 black slaves in Maputo. During the war, they forced many black people. These can be used for livestock and machinery in the east. Until then, the development of plantations will be maintained, but by then the plantations will become large farms."
Tropical plantations are a typical labor-intensive industry, such as cotton harvesting, which was wanted to be completed in the 19th century. Mechanization is difficult to achieve.
The world's three major cotton producing areas, the United States, India and the Far Eastern Empire are all densely populated areas. For example, the United States introduced a large number of black slaves because of the shortage of manpower in cotton plantations. During the Civil War, there were a large number of black people in southern plantations. , the capitalists in the north must be greedy.
The positioning of South Mozambique in East Africa is obviously not the cultivation of tropical cash crops such as cotton, but the food cultivation industry.
With high-quality black soil and vast plains like southern Mozambique, it would be a pity not to grow food. It can be said that the land here is more fertile than the land in the Great Lakes region, and the rainwater temperature is just right. It is in the south. Near the regression line, impartial.
Most of the land in East Africa is between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Cancer, especially in the north. It reaches as far as southern Sudan and is still some distance away from the Tropic of Cancer.
So the South African region plays a huge role in enriching the climate environment of East Africa. The southernmost Orange River Basin has crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and reached about 30 degrees south latitude.
Of course, most parts of East Africa are affected by the terrain, forming a savanna climate. At the same time, due to the high altitude, the temperature is low, which is similar to a subtropical climate in characteristics.
Don’t underestimate the plain in southern Mozambique, which looks small on the map, but its area reaches 330,000 square kilometers. It is one of the largest plains in Africa, and the largest northeastern plain in the Far Eastern Empire is only 350,000 square kilometers.
Of course, compared to the vast land of East Africa, this plain area is not enough to see. The plains of East Africa are basically concentrated on the eastern coast, and although northern Somalia is a plain, it has a tropical desert climate. From Mombasa to The plains between Kismayo are also dominated by dry grasslands due to scarce rainfall.
But Mozambique is different. The average annual precipitation fluctuates between 750mm and 1200mm, and there are many rivers and dense river networks. The upper reaches are mostly plateaus and mountains, and vast alluvial plains are formed in the lower reaches. In this case, the land of Mozambique Nature is very fertile.
“According to news from the city of Dar es Salaam, their first batch of agricultural tractors will not arrive in Maputo until at least the end of this year, because they have not mass-produced so many tractors on such a large scale before As for the livestock from the northern pastures, they may have to wait until August to arrive here, and they are mainly dispatched from the Port of Mombasa. On the contrary, the New Hamburg Port City can temporarily dispatch a batch to help us develop southern Mozambique.”
New Hamburg. The port city belongs to the southern pastures of East Africa. The southern pastures are the most developed areas of East Africa's livestock industry, second only to the northern pastures and may surpass the northern pastures in the future. Therefore, the New Hamburg Port City has the ability to allocate a group of livestock to support Maputo. .
Of course, affected by the war, the livestock industry in New Hamburg Port was greatly damaged, and a large number of livestock were transferred to Hechingen Province before the war.
However, there is a railway connection between the province of Hechingen and the new port city of Hamburg, so the recovery after the war was very fast.
"When the railway from the New Hamburg Port City to Maputo is opened, it will greatly alleviate our problems. The New Hamburg Port City is originally a large industrial city, and basic agricultural tools can also effectively help Maputo, but now the Southern Frontier Province also We are recovering, so we want to get full support from the new Hamburg Port City until at least the end of the year. "For the Maputo government, it is now short of people, lack of tools, and lack of motivation... But this is the case in other regions in East Africa.
But the Mozambique region is particularly serious. It was incorporated into East Africa too late. Coupled with the touching "efficiency" of the Portuguese, Mozambique and Angola lag far behind other regions in East Africa.
For example, the Hechingen and Southern Frontier Provinces in East Africa, which have restricted development, have agriculture that is basically the same as the two places. As for industry, it is even more incomparable.
Under Portuguese rule, Mozambique had no industrial base at all, with only a few ship repair shops and three arsenals temporarily built due to the war.
These three arsenals are actually large firearms repair shops with no weapons production capabilities at all. Moreover, with the withdrawal of Portuguese technical personnel, they are now in a state of paralysis. However, the machines are well preserved. This is different from Angola. The Portuguese army in Angola finally came from the sea. The withdrawal almost completely destroyed the production and living facilities in Luanda and Benguela.
Maputo was blocked by East Africa in the middle and late stages of the war, and finally fell completely into the hands of East Africa. Therefore, Maputo is relatively well preserved among the original Portuguese colonial cities.
Of course, according to standards, the only three Portuguese colonies in South Africa, Luanda, Benguela and Maputo, can barely be called cities.
“In addition to integrating Mozambique’s agriculture, the development of Maputo city should also get back on track. Now many places in the city are empty, hotels and hostels, ship repair yards, handicraft workshops, etc. are basically shut down. This We must seek help from other cities and write it in the government report.”
Before the war, Maputo’s business was relatively prosperous, and there were a large number of businessmen from various countries operating local businesses in the city, exporting Mozambique’s resources. go out.
However, as the war started, Maputo came to a standstill. After the war, due to the withdrawal of the Portuguese government and a large number of civilians, the entire Maputo management system collapsed directly.
If it were just a problem with the government, it would be easy to solve. However, the departure of a large number of Portuguese civilians directly led to the destruction of the local grassroots system. Therefore, when the Maputo government delegated by East Africa arrived, the situation in Maputo was no longer the same. Not improved.
Before, Maputo was under martial law, and now there are more soldiers than civilians in Maputo. Of course, this is without counting black people.
Of course, there are not many Portuguese people left in Mozambique, but they have been temporarily requisitioned by the East African government to temporarily manage black people to maintain production activities in Mozambique.
That is, the local plantation industry prevents the land from being abandoned again. As for Maputo’s business, it is completely finished. Merchant ships from all over the world will avoid it in a short time, and will instead go to New Hamburg Port, or the United Kingdom Port of call at Durban, Colony of Natal.
At the same time, the Portuguese also took away their traditional business routes. For example, after the plantations were nationalized in East Africa, the business channels of the original Portuguese plantation owners were also cut off.
These will need to be dealt with by the Maputo Municipal Government in the future, but according to Maputo’s geographical location and conditions, it is only a matter of time before it prospers again.
(End of this chapter)