African Entrepreneurship Record

March 8, 1912.

Rhine Empire Great Lakes Province, Caprato City, Clay Village.

The afternoon in Clay Village was a relatively leisurely time for the villagers, when the radio in the village suddenly rang.

As an important part of the construction of new rural areas, many villages in East Africa are now equipped with radios, which is conducive to the transmission of information. However, the radio in Clay Village was only installed at the beginning of this year.

The loudspeaker of the broadcast is hung on a telephone pole in the center of the village, so that the sound of the loudspeaker can notify every household as much as possible.

"Hey, hey, hey! All the villagers, gather at the agricultural machinery station before five o'clock. Everyone is informed that the agricultural machinery in our village is already in place." The rough voice of Boka, the head of Clay Village, was heard throughout the entire village through two loudspeakers. Surrounded by villages.

After repeating it three more times, Boka found the switch and turned off the microphone. He praised in his heart: "It is indeed a good thing promoted by the country. It is very convenient to use. Since we have this broadcast system, we no longer need to go door-to-door to notify."

At this time, thinking of the village committee's only phone in the village, Boka said to himself: "I guess this thing has the same principle as a telephone!"

Of course, Boka didn't dwell too much. He took the loudspeaker and started walking in the direction of the Agricultural Machinery Institute. After all, he just said he would have a meeting, and he, the leader, must not be late.

The Clay Agricultural Machinery Institute is actually right next to the village committee, so we arrived at Boka within a few steps. As soon as we stepped into the yard, we saw four brand-new agricultural machinery vehicles parked inside.

"Village chief, are you here?" At this time, a person suddenly came out and said to Boka.

"Joseph, what is the use of the farm machinery sent this time? It looks a little different from the tractors in our village!"

The young man named Joseph said: "Uncle Boka, what you brought this time is a rice transplanter. Its main function is to transplant rice. When you use this thing to go down to the field, you don't need to bend down to transplant rice." ”

Looking at this thing called a rice transplanter, Boka only felt that the development of the times was becoming more and more difficult to understand. He sighed: "Now there are special machines for transplanting rice. In the future, there will be no people for farming." need."

Joseph smiled and said: "What Uncle Boka said is too exaggerated. Farm machinery is not omnipotent. It still needs us to take care of it. Take this rice transplanter as an example. It can indeed save a lot of time, but it can go to the paddy fields." Once you leave, it will take half a day just to clean it up. If something breaks down, it will be even harder to take care of. "

Boka: "Well, that makes sense. This is also the reason why your agricultural machinery exists. In the end, people still have to operate the machines."

However, Boka still said curiously: "Why are there so many agricultural machinery distributed this time? Four units were sent here at once!"

Joseph smiled and said: "When I went to the town, I heard people from the town's agricultural machinery institute say that there are two main reasons. One is that the output of agricultural machinery has increased now, so the country's promotion of agricultural mechanization has naturally accelerated. Another rumor is that I don’t know whether it is accurate or not, that is, the country has invested a lot of money in rural construction this year.”

The news that Joseph heard was not groundless, but it was true. While East Africa was frantically borrowing money from other countries, it was natural to spend the money domestically and turn it into real industry. The East African government took this opportunity. , trying to significantly improve the progress of agricultural mechanization in East Africa.

While Joseph and Boka were chatting, most of the villagers had already arrived at the agricultural machinery station. Looking at the four newly arrived agricultural machinery, everyone suddenly understood the reason why the village chief called everyone here.

"Village Chief, a new machine has arrived this time? What is it for?"

Boca: "Joseph just told me that this is a rice transplanter, specially used for transplanting rice."

Boka's words also aroused the curiosity of the villagers, and everyone asked Joseph how these machines worked.

Although the cultural level of many villagers is not high, they still have some knowledge and knowledge, so they are not unable to understand some of the professional terms Joseph said.

At this time, Boka said: "There are a lot of agricultural machinery coming this time, and it is estimated that there will be more in the future, so the village also needs more professional operators and drivers, so I called you here mainly to ask who wants to participate in this year's Sixth Study organized in the town every month.”

There are quite a few people from the villagers of Clay Village signing up. After all, they have many skills and can drive these agricultural machines, which is also very prestigious in the village.

In the end, Boca selected ten people, all of whom were young guys who had just graduated from school.

Although urbanization in East Africa continues to increase, the rural population is still very large and there are many young people. The reason why Boca chose these young people is also very simple.

"Nowadays, young people have a high level of education and learn quickly. When they have learned well, they will return to the village and pass on their skills to everyone. In this way, in the future, everyone in our village will be able to drive a tractor or a big car."

Boka is convinced of this. After all, he has become increasingly confused about the development of rural East Africa in recent years. However, he believes that the agricultural mechanization mentioned by the country can eventually be realized.

After all, Clay Village is just an insignificant small village in East Africa, so there are many villages more developed than Clay Village.

But Boka has reason to believe that the current development situation of Clay Village is not bad in Europe. Boka immigrated from Hungary to East Africa with his parents when he was a child, so he still remains in the Europe in his memory, or in rural Hungary. last century.

Of course, agriculture in Hungary and Europe has made great progress now, but it is really difficult to judge who is better and who is worse in Krayi Village.

Although East Africa is at the forefront of the world in agricultural mechanization, the accumulated foundation of European and American countries cannot be ignored. Even if steam tractors are relatively backward, they can compete with East African agriculture with their high penetration rate.

Of course, the agricultural mechanization in East Africa is definitely higher than that in Europe as a whole, but generally speaking, East Africa disdains to compare Central and Eastern European countries with East Africa. For example, the countries in the Balkan Peninsula have not been independent for a long time, and they have been developing military strength. Let alone agricultural mechanization, it is difficult to develop traditional agriculture.

Of course, the main country in Central and Eastern Europe is still Russia. There is no need to say much about the level of mechanization in Russia, which is completely useless for East Africa now.

In fact, the rural areas in East Africa are not much different from those in Europe and the United States. The land in Europe and the United States is basically concentrated in the hands of nobles, landlords or farmers, while in East Africa it is only concentrated in the hands of the government.

This is also one of the reasons why the East African government can smoothly promote agricultural mechanization. At present, East Africa is using national power to achieve the effect of large farms in Europe and the United States. After all, it is impossible to easily purchase large agricultural machinery without economic strength.

The village of Kleyi is a typical example. Of course, it is not that Kleyi has not paid for it. In fact, the agricultural machinery institute of Kleyi Village is equivalent to a collective enterprise. The East African government only provides subsidies and price cuts to reduce the cost of purchasing agricultural machinery in rural areas, rather than giving it away for free.

This is also easy to understand. Assuming that an agricultural machinery is worth 10,000 Rhine guilders, and the annual income of an East African villager is less than 500 Rhine guilders, if he wants to buy this agricultural machinery, he will have to spend nearly 20 years without eating or drinking. However, if 100 villagers raise funds to buy it, it will be much easier. Each person only needs to save three months of income to purchase one.

With this agricultural machinery, they can save their time and improve production efficiency, so it will be easier for them to buy the next agricultural machinery. Moreover, as time goes by, the production cost of agricultural machinery in East Africa will further decrease, which forms a virtuous circle.