African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1516 Grain Trade and Famine

Some time later, a company called "Romanov" was registered in East Africa. The Alexei couple directly used the name of the Tsarist family as the name of the company, which focused on three major areas: clothing, perfume and jewelry.

The jewelry industry is a relatively popular industry in East Africa, including diamonds, tanzanite, jade, opal, chalcedony, turquoise, and jade. Africa itself has excellent natural endowments in the field of jewelry.

Among all the continents in the world, Asia and Africa are recognized as having the best gemstone resources, and many of Africa's gemstone producing areas happen to be concentrated in East Africa.

In the past, Zambia, Tanzania, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, and South Africa were all important gemstone producing regions.

At the same time, as a country where Eastern and Western cultures blend, East Africa is more inclusive in its jewelry industry. For example, jade, a typical artifact of Eastern culture, has a considerable market in East Africa.

With the backing of the Russian royal family, the development of the "Romanov" brand naturally went smoothly, making it one of the leading companies in the luxury goods sector in East Africa.

The East African government naturally provides strong support for this newly established company, as East Africa, as one of the world's youngest countries, lacks historical and cultural heritage.

This makes East Africa very weak in the field of high-end cultural products. Although Romanov originated from the former Russia, it has opened up a new track for East Africa, creating jobs and tax revenue for East African society.

……

1931 10 Month 7 Day.

Rhine, the Soviet Trade Representative Office in Rhine. The Trade Representative Office was a special agency established by the Soviet Foreign Trade Committee in various countries around the world.

It is responsible for trade activities between the Soviet Union and other countries around the world, and is generally located in the capital of each country, or in developed cities, or in some regions that have a profound influence on the former Russia.

For example, trade representative offices in London, Berlin, the Rhineland, and Paris are all located in the capital cities of other countries. Trade representative offices in New York, Shanghai (Far Eastern Empire), and Istanbul are located in the most economically developed cities of their respective countries.

The last scenario is relatively rare, and a representative example is the Harbin Trade Representative Office of the Far Eastern Empire, where the influence of the former Russian Empire once extended to this area.

In fact, the Soviet Union had not only one trade representative office in Rhine, but also one in Dar es Salaam. This reflects the relatively active trade between East Africa and the Soviet Union at that time.

During this period, Soviet officials in Rhine were quite busy, because according to past practice, this was an important time for Soviet agriculture to have a bumper harvest and export grain.

Unlike usual, this morning, Kantorovich, the special envoy of the Rhine City Trade Representative Office, first convened a secret internal meeting.

"Comrades, I have an important telegram that arrived from Moscow early this morning. This is very important, so everyone here must now sign a confidentiality agreement."

Kantorovich's serious announcement made everyone in the Trade Representative's meeting room uneasy.

Considering the situation within the Soviet Union at the time, and given the sensitive nature of the Trade Representative Office, their first thought was that something was wrong with the Trade Representative Office. What the problem was wasn't important; even a small matter could escalate to a political level.

After all, this is East Africa, a country that is a mixture of feudalism and capitalism. According to the Soviet Union's definition, East Africa is simply one of the most evil countries in the world.

However, due to the nature of their work, the trade representative office has to engage with East Africa, and in this process, even a careless remark could become a turning point in their fate.

Kantorovich saw their reaction, clapped his hands, and drew everyone's attention to himself.

"You don't need to overthink it. The purpose of this meeting is not related to politics, but to an important task entrusted to us by the country. Next, the Rhine City Trade Representative Office will be an important part of carrying out this task."

"This order was personally issued by Comrade Joseph. According to his instructions, in our recent grain trade settlements with East Africa, we should, on the one hand, increase our exports of grain and other commodities to East Africa, and on the other hand, import a large amount of cheap grain from East Africa for the needs of national development."

East Africa has always been one of the important buyers of Soviet agriculture, such as wheat, oats, and rye. Although East Africa also produces wheat, the quality of East African wheat is not as good as that of Soviet wheat. In recent years, due to the adjustment of agricultural planting structure, East African wheat production has decreased, so part of the market demand for wheat has been distributed to the international grain market.

This situation is not surprising. For example, East Africa imports wheat from Argentina, Paraguay, and the Far Eastern Empire to balance trade or supplement domestic market demand. As for crops like oats and rye, East Africa has almost no large-scale cultivation of them due to its climate.

Abram, the head of grain trade at the trade representative office, asked with some doubt, "Comrade Special Envoy, do you mean that we are expanding our grain exports to East Africa while simultaneously purchasing large quantities of grain from East Africa? Isn't that a contradiction?"

Anyone who heard Kantorovich's words would think the same way. After all, this back-and-forth was somewhat pointless. The Soviet Union would inevitably incur more transportation costs by selling grain to East Africa and then buying it back.

Moreover, the Soviet Union was a major grain exporter, so it was even more illogical for it to purchase large quantities of grain from East Africa.

Abram's idea is not surprising. Before 1931, including Russia, Soviet Russia and then the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union (Russia) was indeed a major grain exporter, except for some special periods, such as during World War I and the Civil War.

Therefore, in the minds of Abram and others, the Soviet Union did not lack food, and importing large quantities of food from East Africa seemed particularly unreasonable.

However, they failed to realize that Soviet agriculture had undergone tremendous changes, changes that occurred during the First Five-Year Plan, namely the collectivization of Soviet agriculture.

By 1931, the Soviet Union had basically completed agricultural collectivization, with collective farms built throughout the country, land reclaimed, and all means of production shared. At the same time, the Soviet Union cracked down on landlords and rich peasants.

This led to a decline in Soviet agricultural output in 1931. However, during the First Five-Year Plan, Soviet political propaganda presented a completely different picture. Newspapers and news reports consistently portrayed the nationwide agricultural output as a result of the establishment of collective farms and cooperatives.

The reasons given in various places are also reasonable and well-founded, such as the significant increase in farmers' enthusiasm for production after collectivization, the substantial increase in water conservancy construction, the improvement in mechanization level, and the increase in the use of pesticides and fertilizers...

These were clearly positive developments for agriculture. Therefore, for those outside the grassroots level, it would seem logical that Soviet agriculture in 1931 should not have decreased, but rather increased significantly. The truth was quite the opposite. While increased grain production was indeed closely linked to the aforementioned factors, as exemplified by East African agriculture, the Soviet government overlooked the crucial role of the "farmers" in agriculture.

This can also be described as the importance of "people." East Africa also has cooperatives and state-owned farms, but a key reason why East African agriculture has achieved such remarkable success is that the East African governments attach great importance to guaranteeing the interests of "farmers."

To put it simply, the East African governments recognize the farmers' legitimate income and have established a relatively fair reward and punishment system, which is the real reason for motivating them.

Grain crops are actually extremely delicate crops. A little waterlogging or drought can affect the yield. In addition, during the planting period, the selection of seeds, the care of seedlings, and the prevention and control of diseases and pests all require careful management by farmers and enterprises.

The Far Eastern Empire, known for its meticulous agricultural practices, serves as a prime example. Imagine if, in the dead of night, a sudden downpour occurred, and the fields didn't need that much water. Farmers in the Far Eastern Empire would brave the storm to check on their fields, carrying shovels to dig dikes and drain the excess water.

If this had happened in the Soviet Union today, the situation would have been completely different. A farmer on a collective farm, hearing heavy rain in the middle of the night, might have chosen to continue sleeping soundly, letting his farmland be flooded.

After all, the farmland belongs to the collective, not him personally, or it is not within his responsibility. He can simply avoid making mistakes rather than seeking merit.

This may be the reason for the reduced grain production this year. Not to mention that there are many other practical issues in agricultural planting that must be adapted to local conditions and the times. This cannot be solved by simple and rigid planned agriculture.

In summary, Soviet leaders were somewhat presumptuous about agricultural development, prone to one-size-fits-all approaches, and did not place much importance on it.

This situation is not surprising, because the Soviet government itself said that it represented the interests of the working class, and many government officials came from working-class backgrounds rather than being farmers, so they did not know much about agriculture.

Finally, the Soviet Union had an overconfidence that industrialization alone could solve agricultural problems. As a result, while the level of mechanization, agricultural technology, and the production of pesticides and fertilizers did improve, the overall development of agriculture was not ideal.

Now, Abram and others, on the one hand, have no understanding of agriculture itself, and on the other hand, are influenced by the Soviet government's public opinion, so they certainly cannot imagine that there are huge problems in the domestic agriculture.

The head of the trade representative office, Kantorovich, only learned of the potential food shortage in the Soviet Union after receiving telegrams and instructions from Moscow.

He explained to Abram and others: "The Moscow telegram said that due to the climate, the domestic grain production may be reduced this year, and also that the demand for grain from the livestock industry has increased significantly in order to improve people's living standards."

"This has led to a temporary shortage of food in the country, but the problem is not serious. It will be fine once it is adjusted next year. However, we must solve this year's food shortage."

"Therefore, importing cheaper grains from grain-exporting countries such as East Africa has become a good option, since grain prices in these capitalist countries are already low due to overproduction caused by the economic crisis."

“We can take advantage of this opportunity to profit from these capitalist countries while promoting the development of the workers’ homeland. In Comrade Joseph’s words, this is fleecing the imperialists, so there is no need for anyone to feel guilty.”

"Of course, if we want to fleece the imperialists, we can't let those evil capitalists and aristocratic landowners know about our plans in advance. That's why this mission needs to be kept highly confidential."

With his explanation, the members of the trade representative office largely believed his statement, especially the second point, the demand for grain from the livestock industry.

This is a good reason. After all, one of the long-term tasks of the Soviet government was to improve the quality of life of its citizens, which required more meat, eggs and dairy products on the table. To make the Soviet people eat better, it was necessary to vigorously develop the livestock industry, which in turn required a large amount of grain.

While the Soviet Union's grain output was not low, they were aware that its agricultural productivity was lower than that of other countries.

In East Africa, for example, the country had achieved full mechanization in the cultivation of food crops, while at the same time, Soviet tractor factories were not yet fully completed and put into operation, and other fertilizers, pesticides, breeding, and planting technologies were far behind.

Therefore, the officials at the trade representative office believed that the Soviet Union certainly had enough food, but that it probably wouldn't be enough to invest more in animal husbandry.

……

Moscow.

Joseph was lashing out at Ukrainian officials: "During the Tsarist era, Ukraine was known as the breadbasket of Europe, and its grain production hadn't had any major problems for the past decade. Now, with more advanced agricultural machinery and higher yields of fertilizers and pesticides, Ukraine's grain production has plummeted!"

"This is clearly due to the inaction of your local officials. If a large-scale famine occurs because of the Ukraine issue, who among you can bear the responsibility!"

"Agricultural officials in the Ukrainian region must take primary responsibility for this matter and investigate whether there are spies, opportunists, or anti-state elements from other countries or western Ukraine who are sabotaging the agricultural development of our great workers' motherland."

He then told the Foreign Trade Committee staff: "Ministry of Trade, find a way to make up for this year's food shortage. I don't care what methods you use, go to Europe, North America, and East Africa to make up for these food shortages. In short, Ukraine absolutely cannot have any problems."

Joseph's emphasis on Ukrainian agriculture was largely influenced by the continued existence of Western Ukraine, a "pseudo-state" certified by the Soviet government.

In his previous life, the Soviet Union occupied the entire country of Ukraine. Therefore, it was no big deal for Ukrainian farmers to contribute more to social development, as they could always be compensated later. However, the existence of western Ukraine now makes Joseph suspicious.

If famine were to occur in the Soviet-controlled regions of Ukraine, the Ukrainian puppet regime could use this as an excuse to incite conflict between Ukrainians and the Soviet government.

Therefore, Joseph's requirement for Ukraine at present is that no one should starve to death, and it is worthwhile to sacrifice the Soviet Union's export revenue this year and buy large amounts of grain from other capitalist countries.

In a sense, the existence of western Ukraine actually changed the fate of many Ukrainians under Soviet rule.

(End of this chapter)