African Entrepreneurship Records

 Chapter 986 Peasants move into the city

In addition to the development of the New West, the Dar es Salaam City Circle, the three new steel industry bases, the first major road and bridge three-dimensional transportation network, etc., during the First Five-Year Plan period, the East African government will continue to focus on the basic industrial sector, that is, energy. , mining, metallurgy, petroleum, chemical industry, electric power, automobile and other industries continue to invest.

“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%. We should strive to surpass the Austro-Hungarian Empire and catch up with France. Our urbanization level is about the same as that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, Austria, Bohemia and other regions within the Austro-Hungarian Empire have strong industrial strength, so they should face up to the gap. Among the great powers, the urbanization and industrialization levels of Britain, Germany, the United States and France are far higher than those of East Africa. ”

"So it is unrealistic to surpass the above four countries in a short time. Among these four countries, France has the lowest industrialization level, but it is still above 30%, which is at least ten percentage points higher than East Africa. , and this gap cannot be offset in a short time.”

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 information obtained by the East African government, the French government estimated that it had invested 5 billion francs in building its own roads and ports. , railway 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 speed of many normal capitalist countries. Take Germany for 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 about 4%. This can also be seen out of the conservatism of the First Five-Year Plan for East Africa.

There is no way around this. Although industrialization is a key task in East Africa, Ernst must also make steady progress. East Africa is not the Soviet Union. It can devote all its energy to industrial construction through communication between the state and the people.

One of the important sources of funds for the Soviet Union's First Five-Year Plan was Soviet agriculture. In order to provide funds for industrial development, the Soviet Union suppressed the price of agricultural products for a long time. Not only the Soviet Union, but also East Africa and any other country's industrial development would squeeze agriculture, because in Before the industrial era, 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.

Therefore, 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, and the colonies in East Africa itself are basically These worthless scraps 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 at least 100% food production to be self-sufficient. On this basis, we will develop high value-added agriculture.”

With the passage of time, East Africa is paying more and more attention to cash crops and animal husbandry. However, East Africa still has a surplus of food production. Therefore, on this basis, the East African government naturally needs to 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." 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 abandoned low-value-added agriculture such as grain production, and is focusing on the development of high-value-added vegetables, flowers and horticulture, dairy and meat animal husbandry, agricultural product processing, and seed breeding and livestock breeding 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 tropical agricultural products that cannot be produced by itself.

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 options and no threats. In addition, The geographical location, ports, rivers and other advantages enable it to 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, this is obviously impossible.

But the fact that this agricultural model cannot be replicated throughout East Africa does not mean that it cannot be replicated regionally, 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 livestock.

Therefore, 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 also attracts the agricultural population into the city. One of the important means.”

In other words, it is necessary to artificially improve urban living conditions, thereby stimulating the agricultural population of East Africa to move into cities, 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 after the 1980s, East Africa’s foreign relations The demand for immigrants has dropped, and more energy has been 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 employment plans. This It will inevitably lead to the booming development of black and gray industries, which will lead to the collapse of social order.

 (End of this chapter)