African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 824 Mechanization and land reclamation

 The first town.

Ernst: "The development of Angola and Mozambique is an urgent issue, but now we are facing the problem of population shortage. At the same time, the security management of the two places has not been completely ended. A large number of black people fled everywhere during the war. "Because of the poor infrastructure, the government should come up with a charter for the development of the two places. How to utilize and develop the resources and how to allocate them are all important issues."

 After capturing Angola and Mozambique, the economic construction of the two places is no longer a regional issue, but a national resource allocation issue.

To put it simply, investment in East Africa is uneven in every place. Just like in the 1960s and 1970s, East Africa mainly concentrated on developing the eastern coastal areas. In the 1980s, it vigorously developed the central provinces, especially Matabele Province. Now Ernst has set the tone, so of course the priority for economic development becomes Angola and Mozambique.

Von der Leyen said: "Several provinces in central China actually still have great potential for development. Take the Hohenzollern province for example, the forest coverage rate reaches 70%, and a large number of areas have not yet been developed. Instead, they are typical grasslands. The situation in Matabele Province in the climate zone is slightly better, but the development of Mozambique will definitely be beneficial to the central part, especially Matabele Province. The shortcoming of Matabele Province is that it is not close to the sea, and after Mozambique is developed, it can further It will activate the economy of Matabele Province and at the same time connect the central and eastern parts of our country.”

Sweet retorted: "The problem now is how we invest so much population. In the 1970s and 1980s, East Africa absorbed a large number of immigrants, which allowed the east and central areas to develop rapidly. But by the end of the 1980s, the number of immigrants in our country had already It has dropped to a historical low. Last year, there were only more than 2,000 immigrants in our country. Although this was affected by the war, the immigrant population was only more than 5,000 in 1888, and the war had not yet broken out. "

Von der Leyen: “This issue is not unsolvable. In a short period of time, we can rely on the wealth left by the indigenous Africans and the Portuguese to temporarily develop Mozambique and Angola.”

“And we don’t necessarily want to develop the entire two places, but focus on key areas, such as northern Angola and southern Mozambique. They are the best of the two places, and the assets left by the Portuguese are also the most abundant.”

“Take Mozambique as an example. We can temporarily divide Mozambique into two large parts, bounded by the Zambezi River, namely North Mozambique and South Mozambique.”

“During the Portuguese colonial period, the southern region of Mozambique became a plantation and labor source for Portuguese colonists. The Portuguese colonists introduced a large number of African laborers and slaves to work in plantations and mines, resulting in a highly active immigration phenomenon.”

“Portuguese colonists established a large number of plantations in the area, mainly growing commodity crops such as rubber, coffee, sugar and cotton.”

“Northern Mozambique has been under our rule for many years. From the first East-Portuguese War to the present, the population of Northern Mozambique totals more than 300,000, concentrated in the northern region.”

“According to the current analysis of the situation in Mozambique, all basic conditions in the south are better than those in the north. During the Portuguese colonial period, the economic activities of the entire Mozambique colony centered around Maputo in the southernmost part, so the economy in the south of Mozambique is more developed and the population is concentrated."

“The plantations in the south are more than ten times larger than those in the north, and are more evenly distributed, extending to the middle reaches of rivers such as the Limpopo River, while in the north they are concentrated in a few coastal areas.”

“South Mozambique currently has a large number of black people and a small number of Portuguese people. South Mozambique is positioned as an important agricultural base that can be compared with the Great Lakes Region in the future.”

“At present, our army has taken over 457 large and medium-sized plantations, but only less than 70 have resumed production. There is an urgent need to arrange personnel to resume plantation management in southern Mozambique.”

“This will create a lot of jobs, and it will also make it easier for people from the eastern region to move out. In the early days, their main responsibility is management. As long as there are no major problems, it is completely acceptable.”

“After resuming production in the two places, we can carry out all-round transportation and economic construction to connect the two places with the central and eastern parts. At the same time, the indigenous residents who have been transferred to infrastructure construction will slowly be replaced by national citizens, so that Angola and Mozambique will gradually get on the right track. Everyone agrees with what von der Leyen said. However, the development of Angola and Mozambique will definitely not be faster. After all, it only relies on the immigration of its own citizens. It will be a long process.

At this time Ernst spoke, and he said to the officials: "The above suggestions are quite satisfactory, so I would also like to add that this time the construction of the two places should not be limited to the past, but should focus on the current era. progress."

"In the past, agricultural development and urban construction were a very slow process. However, in the era of industrialization, this situation has fundamentally changed. The development of industrialization has greatly improved our ability to transform nature. A large number of people have emerged in Europe and North America. Emerging cities, especially in mining areas like the Ruhr area, have transformed directly from small villages and even wastelands into industrial areas where many cities have emerged. This is also true in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Not to mention foreign countries, our Matabele Province is a typical example. "

“At the end of the 19th century, the situation changed again. At present, the development of agricultural machinery has entered a new stage. In addition to traditional steam power, internal combustion engine power is also maturing rapidly.”

“East Africa is a country with relatively backward agriculture. Our agricultural machinery penetration rate is far lower than that of countries such as Britain, France, and Germany. Therefore, the development of Mozambique and Angola can completely start with new technologies to increase the penetration rate of machines and replace certain labor.”

“This will not only promote our development of the two places, but also expand the domestic market. For example, Matabele Province and South Salzburg Province, which have advantages in agricultural machinery production, can focus on the development of modern large-scale agricultural machinery. Related industries, promoted in Mozambique and Angola.”

“Of course, as a result, we must take advantage of the trend to develop large-scale farms similar to those in the United States in Mozambique and Angola and improve the utilization rate of machinery.”

“Especially the plains of southern Mozambique, which have excellent natural conditions, flat terrain, and rich soil and water. We certainly cannot leave such high-quality farmland alone.”

“Mozambique is close to developed areas such as Matabele Province and South Salzburg Province, which is conducive to the direct connection between the industries of the two provinces to support Mozambique’s agricultural development.”

According to Ernst's plan, he plans to develop a number of large-scale medium and large state-owned farms in southern Mozambique, using machinery to replace a large number of manpower.

 This can not only effectively develop the local area, but also promote the development of industrial sectors such as machinery manufacturing and automobile manufacturing in East Africa.

Of course, according to the current technical level and production capacity constraints in East Africa, Ernst’s goal will definitely not be achieved in a short time.

However, if it cannot be realized at present, it is not a problem at all. The development of Mozambique and Angola cannot be quick and easy.

The East African government still needs to proceed from reality and adopt a multi-pronged approach, so that it can always make a breakthrough in one aspect, thereby achieving effective utilization and development of the two places and continuing to expand the economic size of East Africa.

At this meeting, Ernst’s real purpose was not only to care about the development of Angola and Mozambique, but also to further explore the mechanization and scale of agricultural production in East Africa.

 (End of this chapter)