African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 1042 Industry feeds back agriculture

East African agriculture has developed slowly, and now it has truly closed the gap with European and American countries. Although the output of pesticides and fertilizers is not as good as that of Germany, there is not much difference in quantity compared to other countries. Of course, it is different when per capita is discussed.

After all, the national conditions of countries such as Germany and East Africa are different. East Africa and Tsarist Russia, the United States has a large land area and a lot of available land resources. Britain and France have vast overseas colonies, which can share the pressure of local agricultural development.

Under this circumstance, Germany's current progress in agricultural technology can be said to be unparalleled in the world. Take potato production as an example. At the beginning of German reunification, grain production was more than 17 million tons, and now it is 2,500 tons. More than 10,000 tons, potato production has increased from more than 20 million tons to more than 40 million tons, and sugar beet production has also increased from more than 20 million tons to more than 30 million tons.

This is obviously due to Germany's concentrated outbreak in the fields of agricultural breeding, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and agricultural machinery. The country's ruling class is mainly the Junker aristocracy. As landlords, they attach great importance to the advancement of agricultural technology.

Currently, Germany ranks first in the world in terms of agricultural yield per acre. The yield per acre is much higher than that of France, which has more fertile land. It is nearly twice that of the United States and East Africa, and more than twice that of Tsarist Russia.

Take the unit yield of potatoes as an example. Germany’s potato yield per hectare is about 150 quintals. Tsarist Russia ranks second with only more than 80 quintals. France, the United States and East Africa are all around 70 quintals.

Of course, the weather in Tsarist Russia is indeed suitable for potato production, so it can surpass France, the United States and East Africa. However, the unit output of cereals in Tsarist Russia is far behind other countries. Even wheat in East Africa is around ten quintals per hectare. Russia It is only at the level of six or seven quintals. In the United States, it is more than ten quintals. In France, it is twice that of Russia. In Germany, it is more than three times that of Tsarist Russia.

Among these countries, the climate in East Africa is the least suitable for wheat production, but with the advancement of agricultural technology, it is still higher than that of Russia. However, the status of wheat as a crop in East Africa is no longer inferior to that of rice. East Africa’s rice production It will only be higher.

Among the above-mentioned countries, the average quality of German land is better than that of East Africa. France's agricultural natural conditions are the best in Western Europe, especially the land around Paris. Tsarist Russia has a large granary called Ukraine, not to mention the United States, with various climate types. It is rich and the soil fertility is also high.

Therefore, the fundamental reason why Germany crushes other countries in the world in terms of grain yield per acre with not the most superior land is that it has the most advanced agricultural technology in the world at this time.

This has a significant relationship with Germany's industrial development. Take the important agricultural fertilizer potassium salt as an example. In the 1990s, Germany's potassium salt production reached more than millions of tons. At least 30% of the cost of German grain cultivation was Invest in growing cereals.

This is especially true in the field of agricultural machinery. Although East Africa has a first-mover advantage in tractors, tractors are not the only agricultural machinery. Germany is a world leader in threshers, seeders, lawn mowers, steam plows, etc. .

Even the smaller farms in Germany are equipped with at least ten types of production machinery, not to mention that Germany is mainly medium and large-scale farms owned by Junker nobles. It can be said that in this era, German agriculture is the benchmark for the world.

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Rhine city.

Regarding agricultural mechanization, the East African government is naturally not without big moves. However, due to the constraints of the country's cultivated land area, industrial strength and other factors in East Africa, the speed of agricultural transfer is not particularly fast.

The Ministry of Agriculture introduced to Ernst the current situation in the agricultural field in East Africa. Agriculture Minister Fingel said: "At present, our country's agricultural machinery technology accumulation in the field of grain agriculture is the same as that of other countries, but the promotion of these agricultural machinery will require more resources. effort."

"Take wheat seeders as an example. We imitate seeders from Germany and other countries and achieve independent production of this machine. However, our industrial production capacity cannot be compared with other industrial powers." "For example, Germany, Germany's industry It is more powerful than us, so it produces more seeders than our country, but the cultivated land area in Germany is much smaller than that of our country. To put it simply, even if we produce the same number of seeders as Germany, it is impossible to popularize seeders across the country. To achieve the same effect, we need to produce at least three times more wheat seeders than those in Germany.”

"Moreover, the proportion of wheat in my country's planting industry has declined, with rice occupying the first place in cereal planting, and the rice transplanters developed in our country will only be more difficult to roll out than the wheat seeders."

"Of course, the government is currently making great efforts to promote comprehensive mechanization of agriculture, but the establishment of relevant factories cannot be completed overnight. After all, Germany had a better foundation than us when it was first unified."

“However, we do have unparalleled advantages in tractors and automobiles that other countries have, which has also led to the rapid rise in agricultural mechanization in our country. In addition to Britain, France, Germany, and the United States, the level of agricultural mechanization in East Africa is also relatively advanced in the world. "

The role of tractors in promoting agriculture in East Africa is very significant. In the field of agriculture, tractors can be said to be all-rounders. Through various modifications, they can participate in almost most agricultural work. Farming, sowing, harvesting and other agricultural activities can be completed with tractors as a carrier. .

Using tractors as a carrier and matching with suitable agricultural tools, you can do a lot of specialized agricultural machinery work. Therefore, although the comprehensive research and development capabilities of agricultural machinery in the agricultural field of East Africa cannot be compared with other industrial powers for the time being, the utilization efficiency has been greatly improved, which is what the saying goes "good" Steel on the blade."

At the beginning of the 20th century, tractors in various countries were at the peak of the steam age. The annual output of steam tractors in the United States exceeded tens of thousands, while the annual output of internal combustion tractors in East Africa had reached 70,000 units through the First Five-Year Plan.

Due to various restrictions, the efficiency of steam tractors cannot be compared with that of internal combustion tractors. Therefore, although East Africa does not seem to be as prosperous as other countries in comprehensive agricultural machinery research and development, in fact, because it has chosen the right track, it has quickly narrowed the gap with other industrial countries.

Moreover, East Africa's advantages in the field of agricultural machinery research will become greater and greater as time goes by. While other countries are still focusing on steam tractors, East Africa has begun to use internal combustion engine tractors as a carrier to extend to other agricultural machinery. Take a non-agricultural machinery. The most typical example is that the production of armored vehicles in East Africa is mainly completed by tractor factories.

Ernst: “During the First and Second Five-Year Plans, industrial development was the focus of the country, which was also a factor that restricted the speed of agricultural mechanization. After all, industry profits are greater, and the larger the industrial scale, the higher the government benefits. In fact, it is not easy to increase the increase in my country's agriculture. No matter how hard we try, it is impossible to increase the area per mu too much. Even if more chemical fertilizers and pesticides are involved, it is impossible to make agriculture fly into the sky. "

"Of course, agricultural mechanization is an inevitable trend in future agricultural development. Under this premise, the faster the industrial development, the faster the agricultural mechanization, and the improvement of industrial capacity means that we can produce more and better agricultural equipment. , so that industry can feed back agriculture.”

In other words, at the current stage of development in East Africa, although the fundamental status of agriculture as a country will not change, agricultural development cannot exceed the speed of industrial development. Even if East Africa pays more attention to agriculture during the Second Five-Year Plan than during the First Five-Year Plan, , and you can’t invest too much energy.

Because the industry has developed, agricultural mechanization will naturally come naturally. In fact, East Africa's industrial feedback to agriculture has already begun. However, due to the low level of industrialization in East Africa, the effects are not apparent very quickly.

Moreover, agricultural development does not only rely on mechanization, but also depends on technological advancements such as pesticides and fertilizers. Although the East African chemical industry has begun to take shape after the development of the First Five-Year Plan period, to truly have a huge impact on agriculture, it depends on the second level. The development level of the chemical industry during the Five Plan period.

(End of chapter)