Chapter 986 Farmers move into the city
In addition to the development of the new western region, the Dar es Salaam city circle, three new steel industry bases, the first major road and bridge three-dimensional transportation network, etc., during the First Five-Year Plan period, East Africa The government will continue to invest in basic industries, namely energy, minerals, metallurgy, petroleum, chemicals, electric power, automobiles and other industries.
“In 1905, the urbanization level in East Africa should increase by two to three percentage points, and the urbanization level should reach at least 25%, striving to surpass the Austro-Hungarian Empire and catch up with France. Our urbanization level and The Austro-Hungarian Empire was between the two, but the Austrian Empire Austria, Bohemia and other regions within the Hungarian Empire have strong industrial strength, so they should face up to the gap. Among the major powers, the urbanization and industrialization levels of Britain, Germany, the United States and France are far higher than those of East Africa. "
“So I want to surpass it in a short time The above four countries are unrealistic, and among these four countries, France has the lowest level of industrialization, but it is still above 30%, which is at least ten percentage points higher than that of East Africa, and this gap is not short-term. "
After all, at the end of the 19th century, the industrial development of all countries was relatively fast, and France was no exception. From the 1880s to the present, according to the information obtained by the East African government, the French government expected to invest. Five billion francs were spent to build the country's roads, ports, railways and other infrastructure.
If there were no comparison between Germany and the United States at the same time, France's industrialization progress was not inferior to any country. Although the industrial scale in East Africa grew rapidly, the population growth rate in East Africa was also high. When the two offset each other, it would not be so impressive. After all, the overall population of France has not changed much, and the average increase in industry appears to be much higher than that per capita in East Africa.
This is also the reason why East Africa wants to implement its own industrial development plan. The industrial plan itself is to rapidly promote the country's industrialization process by increasing domestic industrial investment in a short period of time.
However, East Africa is still relatively modest, setting the urbanization level in 1905 at 25%. This improvement is actually not much faster than the development rate of many normal capitalist countries. , take Germany as an example, its urbanization level has increased from 50% in 1895 to about 54% today. In the same five years, Germany's urbanization rate has increased by 4%. This also shows the conservatism of East Africa’s First Five-Year Plan.
There is no way around this. Although industrialization is a key task in East Africa, Ernst must also make progress while maintaining stability. East Africa is not the Soviet Union. It can devote all its energy to communication between the state and the people. Come to industrial construction.
One of the important sources of funds for the First Five-Year Plan of the Soviet Union was Soviet agriculture. In order to provide funds for industrial development, the Soviet Union kept the price of agricultural products low for a long time. This would be detrimental not only to the Soviet Union, but also to the development of industry in East Africa and any other country. Agriculture squeezes, because before the industrial age, agriculture was the most important source of national income.
Funds for national industrial development must be obtained from agriculture. Take Britain as an example. In addition to squeezing its own farmers, its industrial development funds are also completed through plunder. The most important early British colonies, India and the United States, were They are all agricultural areas through and through.
So raising funds for early industrial development is inseparable from the plunder of agriculture. East Africa can only obtain part of its industrial funds from backward regions and countries relative to East Africa through industrial production and trade activities, while East Africa itself The colonies are basically worthless scraps and cannot provide much value to East Africa for the time being.
During the First Five-Year Plan, industry was completely the focus of the development of East African countries. On the contrary, the emphasis on agriculture will naturally decrease, but the status of agriculture as the foundation of the country will not change.
Ernst said: "I have always emphasized the importance of agriculture. It is fundamental to ensure the security of East African people's rice bowls. Therefore, accordingly, our country must ensure a certain base of cultivated land and maintain food production at least 100%. , can be self-sufficient, and on this basis, we can develop high value-added agriculture.”
As time goes by, East Africa pays more and more attention to cash crops and animal husbandry, and the grain output in East Africa remains the same. There is a surplus, so on this basis, the East African government will naturally change its thinking.
"For big countries, food security is the lifeblood. Some small countries can fully develop high value-added agriculture by relying on their economies or big countries. But for big countries like ours in East Africa, it is obviously impossible to entrust our life and death to other countries." The Netherlands in a previous life Agriculture is very developed. The Netherlands is actually developing agriculture with a business attitude. The basic principle is to lower the income and increase the income.
The Netherlands has basically given up on low-value-added agriculture such as grain production, and focused on developing high-value-added vegetables, flowers and horticulture, dairy and meat animal husbandry, agricultural product processing, and seed breeding and livestock industries. Cultivate industries.
The Netherlands’ agricultural exports are mainly flowers, vegetables, meat, dairy products and various processed agricultural products, while its imports are mainly low-value-added grain, feed, oil raw materials, etc., as well as products that cannot be produced by itself. Mainly tropical agricultural products.
The Netherlands is dependent on the EU system. If other European countries block the Netherlands, then Dutch agriculture will naturally be doomed. However, a small country like the Netherlands does not have many choices. There are no threats, and with other advantages such as geographical location, ports, and rivers, it can develop well.
Obviously, the agricultural development model of the Netherlands in the previous life cannot be replicated for a super-large country like East Africa. Unless other countries in the world import agricultural products from East Africa, it will be similar, which is obviously impossible.
However, the entire country of East Africa cannot replicate this agricultural model, which does not mean that the region cannot, especially in areas such as the Dar es Salaam urban area with developed economies and convenient transportation.
With the development of industry and cities in East Africa, there has naturally been an increasing domestic demand for high value-added agriculture, the most important of which are fruits, vegetables and animal husbandry.
So Ernst said: "On the premise of ensuring national food security, developing livestock and cash crops in the periphery of cities is one of the important goals of East African agriculture in the First Five-Year Plan. The relatively abundant supply of products, It is also one of the important means to attract the agricultural population into the city. ”
In other words, it is to artificially improve urban living conditions, thereby stimulating the agricultural population in East Africa to move into the city, thereby promoting the development of the country’s industrialization.
After all, East African agriculture is quite unique. Under the East African agricultural system, the quality of life of farmers is relatively stable and the risks are low. If it is in other countries, it is not conducive to the development of cities. The most typical one is France. The quality of life of French farmers was relatively high during the Napoleonic era. , but this also limits industrial and urban development in France to a certain extent.
Of course, improving the treatment of urban residents is only one of the means used by the East African government to speed up the migration of farmers into cities to become citizens and workers. Under the East African system, a large number of agricultural households actually enter the city to work every year, especially those in the Eighth Route Army. After the 1900s, the demand for immigrants from East Africa declined, and more energy was devoted to pushing the country's already scattered agricultural residents into cities through administrative means.
It’s just that this process is not too intense. Urbanization must eventually be consistent with the level of industrialization. Excessive urbanization will lead to the formation of a large number of urban poor people like Latin American countries in previous generations. After all, the country’s industrial level cannot provide more There are too many employment plans, which will inevitably lead to the booming development of black and gray industries, thereby triggering the collapse of social order.
(End of this chapter)