Chapter 1545 - 54: Food Security (2)

Chapter 1545: Chapter 54: Food Security (2)

In fact, this can be understood. East Africa is no longer the colony with a population of just a few million from years ago; it is now a super populous great power heading towards a population of two hundred million. Currently, only the Far East Empire and India have populations exceeding East Africa’s.

And such a vast population will naturally have a very significant impact on the ecology, especially for a region like East Africa where the ecology is relatively fragile.

After all, even the "chosen land" of the United States experienced rapid ecological disintegration when its population just surpassed one hundred million, with issues like large-scale dust storms and vegetation destruction becoming increasingly prominent.

So for a more populous East Africa, this issue can only be more severe, and this also involves the destructive development problem of East Africa over the past few decades.

Though East Africa has a vast national territory, which means its population density is actually much lower compared to Europe and the United States, the problem is obviously not that simple because East Africa’s population distribution is very uneven.

For East Africa itself, the vast majority of the population actually lives in the central habitable zone, that is, the so-called seasonal rainforest zone, which can be vaguely understood as the transition zone between savannah and rainforest, and the area of this region is actually only four million square kilometers, less than a third of East Africa’s total land area.

This is actually comparable to the inhabitable land area of the Far East Empire, which is approximately between four to five million square kilometers.

Of course, the population of the Far East Empire is more than twice that of East Africa, and coupled with the backward industrial level, this causes the environmental degradation degree of the Far East Empire to far exceed that of East Africa. The issue of fuel usage alone has caused many mountain forests in the Far East Empire to be destroyed.

Whereas East African residents, propelled by the energy policies of East Africa in recent years, can at least use coal, natural gas, electricity, and other clean energy sources. Compared to direct wood burning, coal does indeed qualify as a form of clean energy.

However, in this era, East Africa’s environmental problems cannot clearly be compared to those of the Far East Empire or India. After all, the level of development is different, and so are the considerations. East Africa is an industrial country, so it is more meaningful for comparison with Europe and America.

Regarding the inhabitable land of Europe and America, the United States has over six million square kilometers of inhabitable land. However, it’s important to know that the total area of the United States’ mainland is just over seven million square kilometers.

Europe even more so has been favored by nature. In terms of land quality, topography, water resources, and other natural conditions, current Europe is arguably the most habitable place in the world.

Of course, habitability is a concept without a uniform standard. The so-called habitable land area of East Africa indeed contains a lot of exaggeration.

However, relative to the land of East Africa, piecing together such a substantial amount of habitable land area is already quite a feat. At least compared to Russia, East Africa’s overall natural conditions are considerably better.

Governor Manfred replied, "What Your Majesty is saying is precisely what our province has been doing in recent years. Although the North Lake Province is positioned as one of the most important grain production bases, we’ve also invested heavily in ecology and industry."

"Take our province’s cultivated land scale, for example. Although it ranks at the forefront of the nation, this is already the result of our restraint. To protect some wetlands and forests, we have established a series of conservation areas. In terms of new arable land development, we have absorbed past experiences and paid attention to the opinions of professionals."

"If it weren’t for this, our province’s arable land would have long exceeded one hundred million mu, possibly even reaching one hundred and fifty million mu wouldn’t be a major issue."

Manfred wasn’t exaggerating. In fact, if they truly followed the Far East Empire’s land development model, the North Lake Province could establish over two hundred million mu of arable land.

Of course, nowadays, grain doesn’t sell for a good price, and considering food security concerns, the East Africa Central Government won’t put all eggs in one basket. Even if North Lake Province wanted to expand its arable land area like this, it would require the East African Government’s consent.

The so-called food security isn’t just directed towards foreign countries; it applies within East Africa as well. For instance, East Africa’s five main grain production bases are the Great Lakes Region, the Eastern Highland Agricultural Area (the non-Great Lakes Region area of the East African Plateau), the middle and lower reaches of the Zambezi River Agricultural Area, the Southern Agricultural Area, and the Western Agricultural Area.

Besides these five main grain production areas, there are also some smaller grain production areas. It’s safe to say that East Africa has substantial grain production areas established in the east, west, south, north, and center.

After all, concentrating a country’s grain entirely in one place is obviously risky. Currently, the grain output of the Great Lakes Region accounts for a quarter of East Africa’s total, and considering the development potential of the Great Lakes Region, it absolutely has the ability to increase to fifty percent.

And this is clearly not something the East African Government can accept—if the Eastern Africa Capital were in the Great Lakes Region, controlling nearly half of the grain output would benefit the central government by controlling the entire country through food. The problem is that Rhein City is not in the Great Lakes Region, so the grain production share of the Great Lakes Region should not exceed fifty percent of the national total.

Moreover, there’s no need to overly concentrate farmland in the Great Lakes Region. Although the agricultural development potential of the Great Lakes Region is vast and its natural conditions are the best in East Africa, the specific conditions in other places are also not negligible.

Regarding the grain yield of the Great Lakes Region, the range which the East African Government can accept is that it should not exceed one-third of the total national grain production.

The reason for this is significant: East Africa is currently a country with surplus food production, and food output from other areas is sufficient to meet the basic needs within their respective zones. In this context, the Great Lakes Region producing more food doesn’t matter much.

Furthermore, at present, East Africa intends to transfer a portion of its grain production capacity to the Great Lakes Region to shoulder the food security tasks of some relatively fragile ecological areas.

This is why the arable land area of the Great Lakes Region is still expanding, but this expansion is not disorderly and is always subject to regulation by the East African Government.

In fact, if the Great Lakes Region were allowed to blindly expand its arable land area and increase food production without intervention, strictly following market rules, it would, with its superior natural conditions, likely "crush" many other grain-producing regions in East Africa.

Just like the international grain market, if a country allows the free entry of East African and American grains into its domestic market, its agricultural system is almost destined to collapse.

Once its local agricultural system is destroyed, its lifeblood will be at the mercy of East Africa or the United States.

In fact, this is the situation that existed on the African Continent in the previous generation. Many African countries could not achieve autonomous agricultural development and were subservient to the secondary agricultural system of the sovereign country, only able to grow cash crops and unable to control their own pricing rights. Once they defied the sovereign country, the sanctions from the sovereign country could lead them into a food crisis.

And a food crisis is a very terrifying thing. Once people can’t fill their stomachs, other problems follow, and the fall of a regime wouldn’t be far away.

Therefore, achieving agricultural self-sufficiency in the previous generation was a notable achievement, and on the African Continent in the previous generation, only a few countries like Tanzania, South Africa, and Zambia could achieve this.

In summary, the importance of food security is self-evident, so the East African Government cannot allow the agricultural expansion of the Great Lakes Region to proceed disorderly.

Thus, Ernst reiterated, "Agriculture is the foundation of the Great Lakes Region, but it must be pursued within our means, especially in the current depressed international market."

"Moreover, in recent years, the industry in the Great Lakes Region has also been developing rapidly. The Great Lakes Region is one of the relatively densely populated areas, but in the past, its industrial development was relatively lagging compared to other areas. Now the industrial belt around the Great Lakes Region presents an opportunity for you. You need to leverage local hydropower and mineral resources to quickly catch up to the national average level."

In the early years, the migration to the Great Lakes Region was quite straightforward because of the fertile lands capable of supporting a large population, but problems have now arisen—namely, the relatively dense population and relatively slow industrial development. This makes the Great Lakes Region a low point in East Africa’s economy, especially considering per capita income levels and industrial capacity.

This means that for East Africa to shift from a primary industrial power to a genuine industrial power, it must solve the development problem of the Great Lakes Region. Once the economy and industry of the Great Lakes Region are thoroughly developed, the gap between East Africa and other industrial powers in the world will basically be nonexistent.