African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 1028 Economic Conditions in 1904

The planned economy is like a level-breaking game. If you clear the levels, you will naturally feel happy. Similarly, too radical a plan will drag East Africa into a place of no return. Just like now, chasing Germany and surpassing the United States is a bit uncomfortable for the situation in East Africa. Realistically, but in an established country like the UK, it is no longer a fantasy for East Africa to work hard and catch up with the UK in the industrial field.

As a world hegemon, the United Kingdom is theoretically stronger than the United States and Germany. In the economic field, the United Kingdom is indeed ahead of Germany, but the financial industry accounts for a large share. However, in terms of industry, the United Kingdom is no longer as good as the United States and Germany. Rivals, so from an industrial perspective, it is not difficult for East Africa to surpass the British mainland.

"As of 1904, my country's annual cement output has exceeded three million tons, nearly double that before the First Five-Year Plan. It has had a huge impact on my country's construction, transportation, water conservancy and other aspects."

The doubling of cement production is also a major highlight during the First Five-Year Plan in East Africa. Don’t underestimate East Africa’s cement production capacity of 3 million tons. In the previous life, when India became independent, the national annual cement production was just over 2 million tons. Those were all in the 40s. It's the end of the decade.

This can also reflect the crazy infrastructure construction in East Africa in the early 20th century. Although the scale of infrastructure construction in East Africa in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s was not small, most projects could not use it, or the cement production could not keep up. Engineering requirements.

Therefore, the previous infrastructure construction in East Africa reflected such a result in various fields. There were a large number of rammed earth, stone or wooden buildings in towns and villages, and the roads were mainly gravel roads. This was reflected in the construction of water conservancy, which was the repair of natural rivers. There are basically few applications of cement materials.

The accelerated development of the cement industry in East Africa also began in the 1990s, and the strong demand for cities, transportation, and water conservancy during the First Five-Year Plan further catalyzed the development of the cement industry in East Africa.

Similarly, the growth rate of basic building materials such as sand, gravel, and wood is also extremely alarming. However, it is difficult to manually count these materials. However, what is visible to the naked eye is the increase in sand and gravel mining factories in East Africa and the rapid shrinking of forest areas.

Of course, the shrinking of forest area is also related to the development of cities and agriculture in East Africa. Urban construction requires a large amount of land, and agricultural reclamation accounts for a larger proportion. Compared with the timber required for East African production, the first two are more destructive.

Of course, Ernst had no reaction to the sharp decline in forest coverage in East Africa. This was the inevitable result of sacrifices in early development. Moreover, due to the short history of development in East Africa, the consequences of environmental degradation were far from being manifested on a large scale. , wait until there are signs.

According to Ernst’s idea, at least in the first two five-year plans, East Africa did not need to think too much about the environment. In the field of environmental protection, the East African government has already done a lot of work within its capabilities and is at the forefront of other countries in the world. Therefore, the impact of industrial production in East Africa on the environment is controllable in a short period of time.

"In the past, my country's cement production mainly gave priority to supplying important transportation, urban and defense industry needs. Now cement production can spill over to other fields, and there is huge room for improvement. According to the First Five-Year Plan, before the end of 1905, my country's annual cement production It should be able to reach more than 3.5 million tons.”

"The rapid growth in the output of basic building materials such as steel and cement also means that my country's infrastructure construction has entered a new stage. In the past, many infrastructure projects may face update problems due to material advancements, such as roads, water canals, river berms, and urban housing. Updates and more.”

In this regard, Ernst could only express his condolences to the black slaves in East Africa. With the development of the times, the infrastructure construction work in East Africa not only did not stop due to the completion of various large-scale projects, but intensified.

Up to now, East Africa still controls a large number of free laborers, with the overall number still exceeding at least 10 million. In addition to the black slaves in the west, East Africa has also obtained some labor from Madagascar and South Africa.

The issue of black slave labor was also one of the important reasons why East Africa was unwilling to open up its borders. At that time, the slave system was still the mainstream country in the world, especially among the big countries, and only East Africa was the only one.

Although colonial countries such as Britain and France had a large number of de facto slaves in their colonies, at least they would not continue this backward system like in East Africa.

In this situation, if East Africa does not learn from North Korea's previous closed door, it is really possible that it will be criticized by the international community. Moreover, East Africa's political and economic system is also very different from the current international mainstream. That is to say, East Africa does not export culture and politics to the outside world, otherwise it would have been long ago. The other major powers in the world united to suppress it. After all, the game system is different. From the perspective of European and American countries, everyone is not from the same place. Fortunately, East Africa is relatively remote in geographical location. It is separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara Desert. East Africa also honestly does not cause trouble in its own three-quarter acre. Otherwise, It is really possible that other countries will cause trouble in East Africa.

This is not an original sin based on ideology, but an original sin based on the rules of the game. Although East Africa does not belong to a country with an advanced system, the East African model can easily arouse hatred.

For example, after the changes in France's political system, it is easy for people in neighboring countries to follow suit. Traditional interest groups in other countries naturally hate Napoleon extremely much.

If East Africa were a European country, then Ernst would never take this non-mainstream characteristic path. After all, Ernst never believed that East Africa could resist beating like the Soviet Union, unless the monarchy in East Africa was abolished. , but the Rhine royal family would definitely not do this.

While Ernst was thinking, the Ministry of Industry also conducted an overall analysis report on other industrial data. In 1904, all walks of life in East Africa showed a vibrant scene.

In the field of heavy industry, compared with other countries, East Africa has almost made up for most of its shortcomings. Both the output and quality of heavy industry products have reached the level of world powers.

The advantages of emerging industries such as electric power, petroleum and automobiles have been further consolidated, and the development of the chemical industry has also made great progress, realizing the creation of many key chemical industries from scratch.

The heavy industry industrial system has basically been improved, but there is a certain gap between the per capita share and other industrial countries. To put it simply, East Africa can produce most of the heavy industry products on its own, but there is still room for improvement in overall output.

In the field of light industry, East Africa's development is still satisfactory. However, the development of textile and medical industries is more prominent. However, the overall light industry is far behind other countries. At the same time, handicraft products still account for a large proportion of the light industry.

In terms of agriculture, in the past few years, the agricultural growth rate in East Africa has been the same as in previous years. However, the degree of mechanization has been further improved, and the use of pesticides and fertilizers has also been greatly improved, which has further increased the grain yield per mu in East Africa.

In 1904, East Africa's agricultural exports further hit a new high, with cash crop exports taking an absolute advantage, with significant increases in tea, rubber, spices, fruits and vegetables, etc.

On the contrary, the proportion of East Africa's grain exports has further declined. Not only that, East Africa also imported some high-quality grain and meat products from other countries.

This is not to say that East Africa’s grain production has declined. East Africa’s grain production has actually been increasing from the colonial era to the present. Apart from other things, East Africa cannot relax in the grain cultivation industry just to cope with the pressure of population growth. .

The main reason for the decline in the proportion of grain exports is that the proportion of cash crop exports has increased. On the premise of maintaining the country's food security, the East African government has begun to focus on the development of cash crop planting in the agricultural field.

Moreover, international grain prices have basically remained at a low level since the 1970s, and the quality of East African wheat cannot be compared with that of Russia, the United States, Argentina and other major grain growing countries with geographical advantages.

In addition, during the First Five-Year Plan period, the proportion of rice cultivation in East Africa among the two main food crops in the country has increased significantly. Improved water conservancy facilities have enabled more areas in East Africa to meet the conditions for rice cultivation. In addition, rice is more productive than wheat, so East Africa's rations The structure is quietly changing.

(End of chapter)