CHAPTER 459: CHAPTER 137: DISASTER

As a neighboring country of East Africa, the Wassangali Sultanate is located along the Makoxir Coast Region of Aden Bay, and compared to its eastern neighbor, the Magirtin Sultanate, the Wassangali Sultanate is relatively fortunate.

To ensure so-called national defense security, East Africa incorporated part of the southern territories of the Magirtin Sultanate into East Africa in 1869, while the Wassangali Sultanate escaped this fate because its territory was too small. If East Africa had any designs on the Wassangali Sultanate, it would be a war of annihilation rather than a land secession. Currently, East Africa has no urgent needs regarding Aden Bay.

As for the Magirtin Sultanate, which lost its territory, it can only suffer in silence.

Occupying the Aden Bay coast only makes East Africa stand out in that region without any actual gains.

The Gledi Sultanate, for example, has the oases along the Shebelle River and Juba River to develop, but the Wassangali Sultanate and the Magirtin Sultanate have no decent land whatsoever.

Moreover, the Magirtin Sultanate, being a nominal vassal of the Ottoman Empire, still holds some utility for East Africa as it serves as an important link in maintaining East Africa’s trade system with the Middle East.

The border between East Africa and the Wassangali Sultanate.

Millions of locusts are rapidly breeding. Starting in April, the typically dry Somali desert has seen rare rainfall, turning the desert unusually green, which has become a breeding ground for desert locusts.

Unlike other locusts, desert locust outbreaks almost always accompany abnormal rainfall in desert areas, whereas locusts in other regions tend to appear after a drought.

In essence, desert locusts are no different from locusts in other areas, except that the unique climate of the desert, generally arid year-round, means that rainfall greening the desert provides them with richer food sources.

In this sense, the threat desert locusts pose to agriculture is much less than other locusts, which are active in agricultural regions and can cause severe damage when they become a plague.

However, the areas where desert locusts are active didn’t have much agriculture to begin with, though the people in those areas undoubtedly suffer the most.

The land is barren, and farming is underdeveloped, so when desert locusts ravage these areas, it almost results in total crop failure without alternatives.

Combating locust plagues requires a unified state to divert resources from one area to another, ensuring disaster-stricken citizens can maintain their livelihood, which the fragmented Ottoman Empire clearly cannot achieve.

East Africa, however, is different; its resources are so abundant that it isn’t afraid of suffering such losses.

"The locusts have already flown over. According to orders from higher government levels, we cannot sit idly by. We must conduct focused inspections along the Shabelle River and in some oasis areas to identify potential invasion areas of locusts, destroy locust egg-laying areas, and prevent their second wave of reproduction, which threatens southern pastures and farms," the northern province’s pest and disease control center instructed lower-level agencies.

The northern provincial government then began mobilizing citizens to exterminate desert locusts within the province.

"This banana grove is finished, the leaves are chewed up, and the stalks have been eaten to shreds."

"Forget about those for now, let’s burn them!"

Desert locusts have a strong migratory ability and can travel over 150 kilometers a day with the wind, but their speed is limited by the southwestern monsoon prevailing in northern East Africa.

By the time the desert locusts reach the Shabelle River basin, several days will have passed, and those moving north have already crossed the Red Sea and Aden Bay into Yemen, heading towards Oman and the Qajar Dynasty (Iran).

Don’t underestimate the time difference of a few days; desert locusts only live for a few months, and this time is enough for East Africa to plow through river beaches and barren land where locusts might have laid eggs.

Since the locust outbreak originated in the Wassangali Sultanate, East Africa is powerless to control locusts flying in from a neighboring country.

However, North East Africa itself is also within the desert locust activity region, and local locusts still remain in a harmless state within East Africa.

Once locusts from the Wassangali Sultanate enter East Africa and mingle with them, they will turn East Africa’s locusts into gregarious and harmful locusts too.

So, the current campaign against the locusts consists of two parts: first, eliminating local locusts at their budding stage, and second, reducing the number of foreign locusts hatching within East Africa.

In May, as the campaign to eradicate locusts in the Shabelle River basin unfolded, it blocked at least 30% of the locusts from moving south. The price was a 40% reduction in banana output in the Shabelle River basin due to work delays caused by the locust plague and extermination efforts. In mid-May, as everyone was prepared, a major clean-up of the remaining locusts took place in the Juba River basin, reducing their scale by another 40%. By the time the locusts reached the northern grazing areas, they were already on their last legs. The northern pastures were only slightly affected, and the locusts stopped at the southern Kenya highlands’ edge.

Protecting the northern pastures is crucial for East Africa. Currently, these pastures are the largest source of livestock for East Africa, and their horses and cattle support nationwide engineering and farming projects. They are also a key base for exporting live cattle to the Arab regions.

"After this locust plague, we must hasten to establish new pastures within the former Transvaal Republic territories to spread the risk," Ernst said during a government meeting.

Places like South Africa and the northern pastures belong to the large ranching industry, distinct from Europe’s dairy farming, which is an urban-dependent type of agriculture located near markets, whereas ranching extends over vast grasslands far from cities and markets.

In the previous world, the major countries known for large ranching were the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

This shows the advantage South Africa has in developing large ranching industries, especially since the Boers specialized in this trade.

The South African grasslands’ climate is actually more similar to Argentina’s Pampas due to latitude and less susceptible to locusts like the northern pastures, providing a natural premium grazing area.

Of course, the biggest advantage South Africa has over the northern pastures is its suitability for sheep farming. In a previous world, South Africa was the fourth-largest wool exporter.

In the wool textile field, East Africa is still a blank slate and offers a good point for development. 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 fine garments. Since then, Cape Town developed a renowned wool industry.

Later, South Africa became famous for its unique "South African Wool," which is an umbrella term for several types of wool produced in the country, known for differing fineness. Although not as elastic as Australian wool, South African wool is ideal for making shawls and socks, and global demand for it is quite high, making South Africa have a strong and stable wool industry in historical times.

Introducing Merino sheep isn’t too difficult; in fact, Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Far East did so in the previous world, creating Merino sheep breeds with local characteristics.

After East Africa cleared the Transvaal Republic territories, most of the Boers took their livestock to the Orange Free State.

East Africa’s attempt to rebuild pastures in South Africa requires ships to transport livestock from the northern pastures to South Africa for replenishment to quickly regain its scale advantage.

Of course, South Africa is not devoid of livestock; while East Africa didn’t rob the Boers, the Zulu people weren’t spared. The Zulus’ cattle and sheep were all confiscated, and the Zulus themselves were enrolled into "labor" status, becoming part of the production machinery for developing New Hamburg Port.

Once New Hamburg Port is completed, railway construction and livestock imports from the northern pastures can commence concurrently at the new port.