Chapter 446： Disaster

Chapter 446 Disaster

As a neighboring country in East Africa, the Wasangali Sultanate is located in the Makohir Coast area on the Gulf of Aden. Compared with its eastern neighbor, the Magirtin Sultanate, the Wasangali Sultanate is relatively lucky.

In order to ensure the so-called national defense security, East Africa added part of the southern part of the Magirtin Sultanate to East Africa in 1869, while the Vasangali Sultanate escaped because its territory was too small. If East Africa really attacked the Vasangali Sultanate If the country wants to move, it is a war to destroy the country, not the cession of land. Currently, East Africa has no urgent needs for the Gulf of Aden.

As for the Magirtine Sultanate whose territory was invaded, it could only eat Coptis chinensis and be unable to speak of its sufferings.

Occupying the coast of the Gulf of Aden will only make East Africa stand out in the region, without actually gaining any benefit.

For example, in the Sultanate of Gradi, there are oases along the Shabelle River and the Juba River that can be developed. The Sultanate of Wasangali and the Sultanate of Magirtin have no decent land at all.

Furthermore, the Magirtine Sultanate is a nominal vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, so it still has some use in East Africa. It is one of the important links used to maintain the trade system between East Africa and the Middle East.

The border between East Africa and the Vasangali Sultanate.

 Tens of thousands of locusts are breeding rapidly. Starting from April, the Somali desert has received a rare rainfall. This precipitation has made it rare for the Somali desert to appear green, but it has become a breeding ground for desert locusts.

Unlike other locusts, every desert locust outbreak is almost always accompanied by abnormal rainfall in desert areas, while locusts in other areas tend to appear after drought.

Essentially, there is no difference between desert locusts and locusts in other areas. The only difference is that the desert has a special climate and is inherently dry all year round. Therefore, precipitation causes the desert to turn green, which in turn provides them with more abundant food.

From this point of view, the harm caused by desert locusts to agriculture is far less than that of other locusts. The activity areas of other locusts are originally agricultural areas. Once a disaster occurs, it will inevitably cause serious losses.

However, areas where desert locusts are active do not have much agriculture, but the people in areas where desert locusts are active are definitely the most miserable.

The land is barren and the planting industry is underdeveloped. If the desert locusts continue to attack like this, it will basically mean that there is no harvest, and there is no substitute.

To deal with the locust plague, it is necessary to unify the country to demolish the east wall and repair the west wall, at least to ensure that the lives of the people in the disaster area can continue to be maintained. Obviously, the broken Ottoman Empire cannot do this.

East Africa is different. The east wall in East Africa is so thick that there is no fear of suffering this loss.

"The locusts have flown over. According to the orders of the higher-level government, we cannot sit still and wait for death. We must focus on the potential invasion areas along the Shabelle River and some oases areas, destroy the locust spawning areas, and prevent the locusts from reproducing. Threatening pastures and farms in the south." The Northern Provincial Pest Control Center conveyed the order to lower-level agencies.

Subsequently, the Northern Provincial Government began to organize people to exterminate the desert locusts staying in the Northern Province.

“This acre of banana orchard is finished. The leaves are chewed up and the poles are eaten to pieces.”

“Don’t worry about it for now, let’s set it on fire!”

Desert locusts are very capable of migration and can fly more than 150 kilometers in one day following the wind. However, due to the prevailing southwest monsoon in northern East Africa, they cannot fly so fast.

Several days have passed since the desert locusts flew to the Shabelle River Basin, and the desert locusts heading north had already crossed the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and entered Yemen, heading towards Oman and the Qajar Dynasty (Iran).

Don’t underestimate the difference in time between a few days. The lifespan of desert locusts is only a few months. This time is enough for East Africa to plow through the riverbanks and wastelands where locusts may lay their eggs. Because the locust plague broke out in the Vasangali Sultanate, East Africa is unable to control locusts flying from neighboring countries.

However, northern East Africa itself is also an area where desert locusts are active. Local locusts are still normal and harmless in East Africa.

Once the locusts from the Vasangali Sultanate enter East Africa and mix with them, they will turn the locusts in East Africa into clusters of harmful locusts.

So this locust eradication operation is actually divided into two parts. One is to eliminate the native locusts in the bud, and the other is to reduce the number of foreign locusts hatching in East Africa.

In May, with the launch of the locust eradication operation in the Shabelle River Basin, at least 30% of the locusts were blocked from moving south. The cost was a 40% reduction in banana production in the Shabelle River Basin due to locust plagues and delays caused by locust extermination activities. In mid-month, the Juba River Basin was ready to clean up the remaining locusts, and the scale of the locusts was reduced by 40%. By the time the locusts entered the northern pastoral areas, they were already at the end of the war. A small number of northern pastoral areas were affected, and the locusts basically stopped at the edge of the southern Kenyan plateau. zone.

Preserving the northern pasture is very important to East Africa. Currently, the northern pasture is the largest source of livestock in East Africa. The horses and cattle it produces support engineering and farmland construction across the country. It is also an important base for East Africa to export cattle to the Arab region.

“After this locust plague, we will step up efforts to open up new pastures in the former Transvaal Republic to share risks.” Ernst said at a government meeting.

For example, South Africa and Northern Ranches belong to the large-scale pasture grazing industry, which is obviously different from the European dairy industry. The dairy industry is a type of agricultural area developed based on cities and is close to the market, while the large-scale pasture grazing industry is far away from cities and markets. of vast grassland areas.

In the past life, the main countries in the pasture grazing industry were the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

From this point, we can also see South Africa’s advantages in developing large-scale pasture grazing. In fact, the Boers are engaged in this business.

The climate of the South African grasslands is actually more similar to the Argentinian Pampas (due to latitude), and it is not as susceptible to locusts as northern pastures, making it a natural high-quality grazing place.

Of course, South Africa’s biggest advantage over northern pastures is that it is suitable for raising sheep. In its previous life, South Africa was the world’s fourth largest exporter of sheep wool.

East Africa is still blank in the field of woolen textiles and is a good development point. At the end of the 18th century, Merino sheep were introduced to the Cape of Good Hope, and Cape Town became the first region to start producing exquisite clothing. Since then, Cape Town has developed a renowned wool industry,

 Later South Africa became famous for its unique "South African wool". This wool is the general name for wool produced in South Africa and is known for its several variations of varying finenesses. South African wool is less elastic than Australian wool, making it an ideal fiber for shawls and socks. Therefore, the world's demand for South African wool is quite high, which made South Africa have a strong and stable wool industry in the previous life.

Introducing Merino sheep is not difficult. In fact, Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Far East have all introduced this breed in the previous life, and formed Merino sheep breeds with their own local characteristics.

After the cleanup of the Transvaal Republic in East Africa, the vast majority of the Boers took their livestock toward the Orange Free State.

If East Africa wants to rebuild pastures in South Africa, it needs ships to mobilize livestock from northern pastures to South Africa for replenishment, so that it can regain its scale advantage in a short time.

Of course, this does not mean that there are no livestock in South Africa. Although the Boers were not robbed in East Africa, the Zulu people did not let it go. All the cattle and sheep raised by the Zulu people were confiscated. At the same time, the Zulu people were also registered as "laborers" in East Africa and became producers. Part of the toolkit to develop the new Port of Hamburg.

When the New Hamburg Port is completed, railway construction and the import of livestock from northern pastures can be carried out at the New Hamburg Port at the same time.

(End of this chapter)