Chapter 872 Cotton Production Expansion

Mtwara City.

"According to the instructions of the provincial government, we will vigorously boost the cotton economy. In the future, we in Mtwara will expand cotton production by more than three times to respond to the great development of cotton economic policies, expand the scale of cotton exports, reduce the area of ​​grain planting, adapt to the general trend of agricultural production structure adjustment, and provide the driving force for the development of the city."

Cotton planting in East Africa has always been in a tepid state, because the country's key investment is not in the textile industry. In the past, only the northern cotton area centered on Nairobi, the southern cotton area centered on Bulawayo, and the Lake Malawi cotton producing area were formed. These three major cotton producing areas accounted for half of East Africa's cotton production. In addition, there are high-quality long-staple cotton producing areas such as Gezira and Somalia, and various small cotton producing areas that rely on cities.

The direct reason why the East African government's attitude has changed and vigorously encouraged cotton planting is also because of the increase in German orders.

The most critical thing about German Prime Minister Caprivi's visit to East Africa is to make East Africa one of the raw material suppliers for Germany's industrial development. Among the various raw material supplies that East Africa can provide, East African cotton is particularly favored.

Germany is very short of cotton. As of now, Germany is the largest textile country on the European continent and ranks third in the world, second only to Britain and the United States.

There are more than 300,000 workers directly engaged in the textile industry in Germany, close to 400,000. One out of every ten industrial workers is engaged in the textile industry.

In 1892, the German cotton textile industry created a commodity of nearly 700 million marks, which is 30% higher than the second largest industry in Germany, the coal industry, and 40% higher than the steel industry.

However, Germany's coal and iron ore resources are basically self-sufficient, while Germany's raw cotton is almost entirely imported. In 1892, Germany imported more than 700 million pounds of cotton. No industry in Germany is as dependent on imports as the cotton textile industry for key raw materials.

At the end of the 19th century, cotton prices continued to rise. The increasing consumption of cotton by the United States and India, the two largest cotton producing areas in the world, was the fundamental reason for the increase in cotton prices. Cotton prices have doubled.

Before the American Civil War, American factories only used about 20% of domestic cotton, but by the 1870s, this proportion rose to about 33%, and after 1892 it rose to more than 40%. India also benefited from British investment, and with population growth, the scale of the cotton textile industry continued to expand.

So Germany urgently needed to find a stable cotton supply base in the world to meet the needs of its cotton textile industry.

Before cooperating with East Africa, Germany had tried to grow cotton in its colony Togoland (Togolese Republic in West Africa), but failed miserably.

After all, in Africa in the 19th century, except for East Africa and Egypt, and other North African countries, there was basically no experience in cotton planting.

Germany could not even find a rich labor force with cotton planting experience in Togo, and the scale of cotton planting in Germany was small, and it lacked experience in cotton planting compared with Britain and the United States.

Moreover, Germany had only controlled Togoland for a few years and had a lack of knowledge of the local natural climate conditions, so failure was inevitable.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with Germany choosing Togoland for the experiment. In its past, Togoland was a major cotton-growing country in Africa. Especially after its independence, the cotton planting industry expanded more than seventy times. Its neighboring Benin (now the Kingdom of Dahomey and the Portuguese colony of Ouidah) became the largest cotton-growing country in Africa in the 21st century.

However, it is unrealistic to make the Togoland colony a cotton supply base for Germany within a few years, and the Togoland colony has another flaw, that is, the territory is narrow and small.

In addition, Togoland has almost no infrastructure. Selecting this place as a cotton supply base for Germany will inevitably require heavy investment, and the area around Togoland is densely populated by colonies of other countries, and the investment risk is still high.

Most of Germany's other colonies, such as the Pacific Islands and the largest Cameroon, are in tropical rainforest areas and are not suitable for cotton planting.

Therefore, looking around the world, there is no place more suitable than East Africa as a cotton supply base for Germany. East Africa itself is one of the main cotton suppliers for Germany and Austria-Hungary, especially in the field of high-quality long-staple cotton, and it monopolizes the markets of the two countries. If they do not get goods from East Africa, they can basically only buy them from British merchants at high prices. The reason why East Africa is sanctioned by the United Kingdom also requires a shipping point, so everyone takes what they need.

"Experts from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Germany have conducted in-depth research on the climate and soil of our Mtwara, so they have determined that Mtwara and the surrounding areas are suitable for cotton growth. In addition to our coastal advantages of Mtwara, under the instruction of the central government, we are allowed to vigorously develop the cotton planting industry."

Mtwara has always been one of the important port cities in East Africa. It is one of the earliest developed port cities in East Africa. In the early days, it was an important port in East Africa like Dar es Salaam, Bagamoyo, and Tanga.

However, as East Africa continues to expand its territory, the competitive pressure faced by Mtwara City is also increasing, especially after emerging port cities have sprung up like mushrooms after rain.

In fact, all three seaports in the province of New Württemberg are facing this pressure. Before this, the province of New Württemberg could only cling to the Lake Malawi Industrial Zone. Now that German capital has entered, it is seen by the provincial government as a new opportunity for the province's economic development.

Not only German capital, but also the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the two countries' investment in the coastal areas of East Africa has entered a new stage.

Take the cotton planting industry as an example. Not only does it provide order support, but in order to encourage the export of East African cotton, it is planned to invest in a number of cotton ginning plants on the coast of East Africa to save labor costs, provide high-quality cotton varieties, unify cotton production quality, and send local experts and technicians to scientifically guide the cotton planting industry in East Africa.

This is good for the cotton planting industry in East Africa. Of course, the excellent infrastructure in East Africa also makes these German capitals optimistic about the East African market.

For example, infrastructure such as railways, roads, and ports basically does not require investment. This is very important for German companies. If cotton is planted in Togoland, the above supporting facilities need to be built by German companies themselves.

Like Mtwara, there are ports, railways, roads and other facilities, and it also has a certain industry and industrial foundation. The New Württemberg Province has a large amount of land resources. Even if the original crop planting area is not changed, a large number of cotton fields can be obtained through means such as land reclamation.

Of course, the labor cost in East Africa is also very important. Although wage costs need to be paid, East Africa is highly efficient!

In Togoland, the Germans not only faced the lack of planting experience of the local natives, but also the long-standing problem of management. The most important thing was that the locals were afraid of large livestock!

The last thing was really outrageous. After all, most of the African natives were not traditional agricultural civilizations. As mentioned before, most of the native cattle in Africa are located in northeastern Africa and North Africa.

In the eyes of many African natives who are dominated by hunting and gathering civilization, the species of cattle represents the violent and dangerous species such as "wildhorse, zebra, rhino" in Africa.

Therefore, considering various factors, East Africa is the best choice for German capital. East African immigrants are mainly farmers, and East Africa is a major agricultural country. As long as the operation is proper, investing in East Africa will basically not be as bad as Togoland.