CHAPTER 548: CHAPTER 226: BACKWARD AGRICULTURAL COUNTRY

The construction of the port requires long-term preparation, and in the short term, it will affect operations. Therefore, the British plan is temporarily impractical, and Ernst couldn’t help but think whether Maputo port would eventually benefit East Africa.

Similarly, the British and Portuguese could also consider reversing this, wanting East Africa’s port to eventually become their own asset. After all, the risks are quite significant.

...

The beginning of 1880.

The population census work in East Africa continues, and preliminary demographic data has been established. In 1879, East Africa had approximately 34.72 million immigrants and newborns, with the number of Black people at 19.62 million.

Adding the two together, East Africa’s total population is around 54 million, which exceeds countries like the United States and Germany.

Of course, Black people in East Africa aren’t generally counted as part of the population, but they have undeniably made significant contributions to East Africa’s construction.

East Africa’s population (including Black people) exceeds the 50 million level, meeting the definition of a populous country and making it the world’s fourth populous country after the Far East Empire, the British Empire, and the Tsarist Russia.

If excluding Black people, East Africa’s total population still exceeds Japan, is comparable to the Austria-Hungary Empire’s total population, and is slightly lower than Germany. The current population of East Africa is sufficient to compete with major countries worldwide.

"At this time, most people have a relatively short life expectancy, with global average life expectancy between thirty to forty years. While East Africa actively plays a role in reducing the burden on the population, average life expectancy is only about thirty-five years, which is essentially the world average," reported Bellrade, the Minister of Health, to the government.

"The main cause of high mortality in East Africa is diseases, which is where our health department has the most say. Especially among East African immigrants, many early accumulated hidden injuries get exacerbated when they reached East Africa, further suffering from maritime distress, and ultimately potentially contracting diseases like malaria, so short-lived individuals are indeed common. However, this is not different from other countries."

"We lack medical resources, especially doctors, which are quite scarce, though we have adequately prepared some standardized essential medicines such as Quinine and anti-inflammatory drugs. Traditional Chinese medicine has significantly supported early national construction in East Africa, meeting the needs of grassroots medical staff and patients."

"East Africa’s population birth rate has also hit a new high, but it comes with a high infant mortality rate. The good news is that East Africa’s climate is stable, generally posing no great challenges during childbirth. The bad news is that we lack pediatric vaccines that can improve newborn survival rates."

This is where Bellrade shows a bit of greed, as most countries do not have the conditions to provide such guarantees for newborns, let alone a country like East Africa that is extremely short of medical talent.

"East Africa’s population is predominantly young, more advantageous than most countries globally, particularly the number of Black people who bear much of the depletion of the country’s significant projects, ensuring social stability and public health."

"However, the decline trend in the number of Black people has slowed. One reason is many significant projects have intercepted a considerable percentage of the Black population, and two is the external demand decrease as several countries’ consumption levels diminish after prolonged economic crises."

"The Black population has actually decreased by over four million in recent years. Despite occupying part of Portuguese territory last year, where the Black population should increase according to regular patterns, the overall number of Black people in East Africa continues to greatly decline. However, compared with previous methods like using warfare to drive out and reduce the Black population, the efficiency has reduced."

"East Africa’s demand for Black people has increased now, especially for national projects. For rapid national land development, the only way is to sacrifice lives, which cannot be you or me, nor East African citizens, so they must be Black people."

"Therefore, many of this batch of Black people cannot be sold but will directly die on East African soil, so we must prepare for this, especially for cremation and other necessary procedures."

This doesn’t count as destroying evidence, as ordinary East Africans are also cremated after death as mandated by the health department.

"Nationally, agricultural population accounts for more than eighty-five percent, while combined populations in industry, commerce, military, transportation, and other sectors do not exceed five million, indicating East Africa remains a backward agricultural nation."

"Last year, agricultural tax revenue accounted for about eighty percent of government fiscal income. With population growth, inland development, agricultural tool improvement, and increased production efficiency, there is potential for further growth in agricultural tax revenue in East Africa."

"In national fiscal income, especially in exporting-oriented economy, tropical economic crop export contributes over sixty percent. However, there are some corresponding issues; one is logistics, another storage, as many economic crops especially fruits and vegetables require shorter durations, superior storage, and preservation technology."

"In 1879’s national economic statistics (excluding Heixinggen consortium), heavy industry occupies seventy-five percent of national industry, notably steel and railway have high contributions, driving development in mining and other sectors. Light industry development remains slow, still primarily traditional handicraft workshops."

East Africa seems to be following the Soviet Union’s old path. However, under current circumstances, there are no negative effects. The substantial weight of heavy industry only appears in East Africa’s industrial proportions, whereas East Africa is essentially an agricultural nation. The ongoing transformation from agricultural to industrial nation ensures everything remains within control.

"Therefore, to conclude, East Africa has undergone fifteen years of development, entering a new stage, already considered a normal country, with its population shortcomings filled. Yet we face new problems, such as transitioning from a backward agricultural country to an industrial nation."

East Africa, as a so-called normal country, reflects the majority of the world’s countries. East Africa has spent fifteen years on this path, and although slavery still exists, this issue can certainly be resolved within the next twenty to thirty years.

In addition to various measures, the primary factor is that Black people in East Africa cannot live so long. Their average life expectancy is only in the twenties, not reaching thirty, so even if East Africa does nothing, Black people will naturally decline in two decades.

It is proven that human lower limits continue to decrease. Ernst was naively thinking of sending Black people out of East Africa to die in other countries. Now in East Africa, the need for demographic dividend for development pushed away a significant portion of the fig leaf.

The number of Black people dying in East Africa is rising annually, especially in large-scale construction projects, relying almost entirely on manpower while medical care doesn’t keep pace, so Black mortality rates remain high.

Approaching the century’s end, Ernst wants to further burden East African Black people, especially in harsh regions’ project development and construction requiring their blood and sweat to be poured into.

Take the transportation projects in Hess Province and other mountainous regions as an example. Completing them with inexpensive Black labor now will save substantial time in the future.

Certain projects must rely on manual completion, so it’s essential to arrange most infrastructure while East Africa’s human cost is currently at its lowest. Future efforts will only need to address deficiencies and conduct routine maintenance.