Chapter 669: Workers and Peasants Linkage
Under economic transformation, it is natural to avoid the largest industry in East Africa, which is agriculture. Industrialization does not mean abandoning agriculture, but further improves agricultural production efficiency.
For this reason, Ernst said at the government work conference: "Agriculture is the foundation of the national economy and a prerequisite for survival and all production. Therefore, throughout the 1980s and 1990s, we must still pay attention to agricultural development issues, and the focus is Continuously improve agricultural production efficiency, especially promote the diversified development of agriculture, do our best to give full play to the advantages of East African agriculture, and achieve coordinated development between agriculture and industry."
ˆ Before this, Ernst would not talk about the coordinated development of agriculture and industry, because in the past, the industrial scale in East Africa was not as large as the handicraft industry. Now that he has finally saved some money, he has the confidence to promote the common development between agriculture and industry.
"What is agricultural diversification? How does it relate to our agriculture in East Africa? Agricultural diversification means not putting eggs in one basket. For example, in terms of staple foods, our two major staple foods in East Africa are wheat and rice, but we need to know The land in East Africa is far more talented in growing corn, millet, sorghum, soybeans and other food crops than other countries in the world."
Of course, these latter food crops are easy to produce in East Africa, but it is difficult to surpass wheat and rice in terms of taste. However, turnips and greens have their own preferences and can always find their suitable people, so the recipes of East Africans have been diversified from the beginning.
“Agriculture first solves the problem of food, which is also the first impression most people have of agriculture, but how agriculture provides basic conditions for industrial development is easily overlooked.”
“Take the textile industry as an example. The main raw materials of the textile industry, such as cotton, hemp, raw silk, etc., all come from agricultural production activities. In the 19th century, the textile industry was the world’s largest industry.”
“As the first industrialized country, Britain’s early industrialization can be said to have been entirely driven by the textile industry, including the American slave trade, which was also stimulated by the demand for labor in cotton plantations.”
“In the 19th century, agriculture provided most of the raw materials for industry, followed by the mining industry.”
With the advancement of science and technology in the future, there will also be a chemical industry, but the chemical industry is still inseparable from agriculture and mining to provide the most basic raw materials. Its essence is to expand the application of the properties of raw materials.
In East Africa, agriculture and mining are relatively prosperous, but they are not considered developed because the production efficiency is still not up to the level of European and American countries. Of course, this does not include Eastern European countries such as Tsarist Russia.
To be honest, it is more difficult for a country like Tsarist Russia to develop agriculture than in East Africa. This is determined by the climate, whether in terms of output, category, or area.
Tsarist Russia only has the largest area of high-quality black soil arable land in the world, but apart from this, it has no advantages. The black soil is the most fertile, but the water and heat conditions are too poor, and it can only produce one season a year.
Furthermore, the effective land area of Tsarist Russia is much smaller than that of East Africa. Comparatively, East Africa ranks first in the world, followed by the United States and then the Far Eastern Empire.
The cultivated land in East Africa is mainly provided by several large plateaus. Naturally, it cannot be compared with the contiguous great plains of North America. The Congo rainforest and desert alone occupy nearly three million square kilometers of land in East Africa.
Of course, the agricultural conditions in East Africa also have their own disadvantages, and that is the quality of the land. However, the quality of the land mainly depends on later management and improvement. In the 21st century, a lot of land relies on chemical fertilizers and scientific farming methods, and no matter how we talk about the quality of the land in East Africa Overall it is better than the Far Eastern Empire.
When East Africa takes over Mozambique, East Africa can still have its own black soil. Although the area of black soil in Mozambique is much smaller, it will also fill a gap in the soil of East Africa. Ernst continued: "So you have to see the correlation between agriculture and industry. The Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Industry should communicate more. To put it simply, it turns out that the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Foreign Trade have more contacts because we mainly use the best Basic grain exports are the main focus, but now that the Ministry of Industry is involved, it is necessary to increase the added value of agricultural products, so that re-exports can gain greater value and extend the industrial chain."
"For example, canned products. Our canned fruit industry in East Africa is very popular in Tsarist Russia. At the same time, it solves the problem that fruits are not durable and difficult to store, opening up its sales. And related factories have solved the problem of some citizens. Employment issues."
"Or maybe it's our sisal industry. The sisal industry in East Africa has developed rapidly in recent years. However, in the past, the sisal processing plants in East Africa were inefficient and had small production capacity. After nearly two decades of hard work, now East African sisal processing has finally We get rid of external dependence on various industrial products such as hemp rope and linen, and we can meet customer needs."
Ernst kept chattering, mainly to enlighten his subordinates. After all, sitting in the office all day long will not find business opportunities.
“Finally, there is the issue of livestock, which is one of the three important components of East African agriculture.”
At present, East African agriculture is mainly divided into three major areas, namely cash crop cultivation, food crop cultivation, and finally animal husbandry.
“In addition to solving the problems of meat, dairy products, leather, and other raw materials, the animal husbandry industry is most important to provide power for industrial and agricultural production, so the expansion of the animal husbandry industry still needs to continue.”
Speed engines, stupid, bulky things, are unaffordable in many places in East Africa, and they are not easy to move. Not to mention East Africa, it is the same in Europe.
At present, the main force in agriculture is still human and animal power. In addition to industrial and agricultural production needs, transportation and logistics are also extremely dependent on animal power.
Hence, expanding the scale of animal husbandry is very important to East Africa at present, and is one of the important parts to improve productivity in East Africa.
Animal husbandry and cash crop cultivation actually contribute more to East Africa's economy than food crop cultivation. Of course, food issues are the foundation. If you don't have enough to eat, you don't have the right to talk about development.
Everything in East Africa is based on the grain cultivation industry to meet domestic demand and also export. This involves an important role of agriculture in the early stage of industrialization, which is the accumulation of original capital.
In the early days, East Africa's military expenditures and national construction funds relied heavily on the food planting industry, and the cultivation cycle of cash crop cultivation was longer than that of food crops. For example, tea, rubber, coffee, etc. all required East Africa to grow for seven or eight years. It has only begun to generate profits after its development, and its scale has only reached a level that can compete with international competition in recent years.
The reason is very simple. The first step in developing the native land in East Africa is to solve the problem of food for immigrants. Therefore, early agriculture must be mainly based on the cultivation of food crops. Only after the problem of food and clothing is solved, can we focus on the cultivation of more profitable cash crops. and animal husbandry development.
"In short, agricultural development can promote industrial development. Agriculture is the dominant industry in East Africa. The industrial sector in East Africa must actively connect with the agricultural sector to further transmit the agricultural advantages into the advantages of industrial development. Multi-sector collaboration is also an inevitable choice for the governance of large countries. Future trends,” Ernst emphasized at the end.
(End of this chapter)