Chapter 612 France’s Achievements
After two years of vigorous promotion, “stone fertilizer”, also known as phosphate fertilizer, has been widely accepted by French farmers.
After all, this thing can really increase wheat production by more than 10%, and the price is not expensive - the phosphate mine is just stone in the place of production, and it is basically free. All costs are incurred in the transportation link. So very cheap.
In addition, with the vigorous promotion of agricultural service consulting companies and churches, almost every French farmer has developed a new type of compost.
Phosphate fertilizer and compost increased France's wheat and potato production last year by about 14% compared with the previous year. This was because a lot of land was converted to sugar beets, otherwise it would have been even higher.
At the same time, land fertility has also been significantly improved, and the fallow period has been lengthened from three years to four years.
However, Venio seemed to feel that this growth rate was not enough compared to Mirabeau’s astonishing industrial data, so he just mentioned it in a few words.
In fact, after French farmers had the right to redeem their land, their willingness to improve planting techniques was much greater than before, and various new agricultural tools and fertilizers were rapidly spread with the help of agricultural service consulting companies. .
After experiencing various natural disasters in the past few years and repeatedly facing the threat of famine, France's agriculture has now completely stabilized.
Venio then talked about the olive plantations in Tunisia.
In fact, France began to import olive oil from Tunisia a long time ago, but due to the limited quantity, the French still use butter or sunflower oil for cooking.
However, Venio, the Minister of Agriculture, is still very diligent. When he was promoting the composting method in Tunisia at the beginning of last year, he accidentally noticed the olives there.
Tunisia is definitely a paradise for olives. The plants grow rapidly, there are almost no pests and diseases, and the yield is very high.
However, the olive trees here are almost uncared for, growing together with shrubs and weeds, and monkeys and birds are even allowed to eat the ripe fruits.
So he thought of implementing the olive plantation model in Tunisia.
After Joseph saw his planning plan, he immediately approved it and gave him additional tax breaks and tree species subsidies.
At first, Joseph just wanted to develop Tunisia's economy, but unexpectedly, Venio did a good job and got unexpected gains.
In Tunisia, olive trees are everywhere. You only need to spend a small amount of money to surround a large area of olive trees, which is basically a plantation.
If you include government subsidies, the investment is almost negligible.
As a result, many French immigrants in Tunisia and local nobles started olive plantations.
The nearby Tunisian tribes provide sufficient labor for these plantations. Even the women and children of the tribes can earn some income by doing weeding and watering.
With Venio's promotion, hundreds of plantations of various sizes were built in Tunisia in just one year.
Under the careful care of the plantation owners, olive production has increased significantly compared with the past. The total volume of olive oil shipped from Tunisia to France increased by 190% last year!
On the other hand, with the support of Mirabeau, Venio encouraged investors to build four large oil-pressing factories in Tunisia, pressing and barreling directly at the place of production, further reducing transportation costs.
As a result of a series of measures, the price of olive oil on the French market is now lower than that of sunflower oil, and French people are becoming more and more willing to use oil when cooking. A very popular dish in Paris recently, "Grilled Beef with Asparagus", is fried in olive oil and can be regarded as a "petty bourgeoisie" dish for the common people. Even more sophisticated bakeries will add a little olive oil to improve the taste when making brown bread.
Venio mentioned in the report that three new oil pressing plants will be built in Tunisia this year. Taking into account the expansion speed of plantations, after the olive harvest in October, the price of olive oil will be able to drop further. 15%.
What Vergniaud did not expect at the time was that because of the good profits from the olive plantations - the Crown Prince gave a 60% tax reduction - more French people were attracted to immigrate to Tunisia. Run a plantation.
The number of immigrants last year was close to 100,000. There are currently more than 250,000 registered Tunisian immigrants. There are also many people who went by boat from Italy, Spain and other places, estimated to be 20,000 to 30,000 people.
At the same time, the olive trade also promoted the construction of towns in Tunisia. At present, it has gradually developed into a small town centered on several oil pressing factories. Two of them have even begun to raise funds to build wooden tracks leading to the Port of Bizerte.
It can be said that Vergniaud used his "olive strategy" to put Tunisia's development on the fast track.
After the Minister of Agriculture, the Minister of Trade and the Minister of Household Registration also spoke successively.
It’s just that their results were overshadowed by the brilliance of the previous three, and seemed a bit mediocre.
Bai's biggest achievement is that the "Special Trade Association" has established a sales network in the Indian Peninsula, the Caribbean and Brazil, but this matter cannot be mentioned at the cabinet meeting.
So he could only focus on the growth of exports to Germany and Italy.
Under the special sales methods of the Trade Alliance caravans, slogans such as "Don't ask for nine hundred and ninety-nine" and "Invite friends and relatives to come and have a chop" have become well known to most of Europe, and sales are booming.
Coupled with the continuous reduction in the cost of French industrial products, leading products such as alcohol, paper, and chemicals have almost dominated the South German and Italian markets, and the market shares of steel, machinery, furniture, etc. are also increasing rapidly. .
Even in Russia, Ottoman and other places, French goods are constantly encroaching on the market for British goods.
On the other side, the Minister of Household Registration looked at Venio with resentment.
Because of his biggest achievement, the large-scale immigration to North Africa was "spoiled" by the latter just now. He finally talked about conducting a census in Corsica and promoting ID cards.
Even the Lord of the Navy, the Marquis of Castelli, who had been absent from the cabinet meeting for a long time, stood up for a rare occasion and introduced the new steam-powered warships under construction and the situation of the Naval Academy.
Queen Mary was very excited when she listened to the glorious achievements of the ministers. France has had such amazing development in the past year.
She couldn't help but look at Joseph, and thought to herself: It seems that these achievements all appeared after the crown prince took over the cabinet... Her son is indeed the son of God's favor, and his political talent simply surpasses her own, no, Even comparable to his grandmother!
Queen Mary's mother, Maria Theresa, was the previous ruler of Austria and the person she admired most.
Queen Mary couldn't help but feel a little sad. Perhaps, she should have let her son take charge earlier.
But a smile quickly appeared on her face. Wasn't it because of her careful teaching that her son could do such an outstanding job? In the future, I will provide more support for Joseph from behind and make France stronger!
(End of this chapter)