Chapter 580: Agribusiness in Africa

The Sultan of Khalifa was fortunate that, after all, Britain practiced largely indirect rule and would not disrupt the local political environment too much.

This was unlike France, where the royal family of Madagascar, now Africa’s first island, was lost.

At this point in time, Alan Wilson did not mind using the soon-to-arrive French as a backstop, stating that it was fortunate to fall into the midst of British colonial rule, and using the fate of Madagascar’s royal family to show the Sultan of Khalifa that there was nothing wrong with being ruled by the British, in fact.

The new treaty mainly clarified the responsibilities of both sides, and the obligations of both Britain and Zanzibar. Zanzibar would serve as a base for Britain to exert an offshore balance against East Africa.

In the old days, Britain would not have needed to rely on other countries to achieve its aims. But it was 1950, and cost-saving solutions had to be thought of.

After consulting with colleagues, a common view emerged that a reliable Arab country was needed to help Britain share the defense of Madagascar.

The final choice was between Egypt and Iraq, with most commissioners agreeing that Egypt had the military power and, as the most populous country in the Arab world, it would be easier to lend a hand.

But the Sudanese commissioner, John, a friend of Alan Wilson’s in British India, was adamantly opposed to bringing Egyptian power into Zanzibar, “It is precisely because Egypt is strong that we cannot choose Egypt.”

“Above all, Egypt is really an African country.” Alan Wilson recognized his old friend’s concern spoke up, “Iraq is different, Iraq itself has an extremely narrow coastline and is blocked by Kuwait at the mouth of the river, in the current situation where Kuwait has British troops stationed, Iraq does not have any ability to develop a navy. It’s relatively easy for us to be able to control the country. Getting Iraq to bring in some of its soldiers is a way of giving Baghdad a false name.”

“Bring in Arab forces to check the natives in Africa?” Blake thought for a moment and said, “That would be one way to do it.”

“Iraq has no sea power, and it’s still up to us to maintain a presence?” Alan Wilson raised his eyebrows and smiled, “Right now Britain is surrounded by two wolves, both want our heritage, we won’t give it to them even if we smash the pot.”

Hearing Alan Wilson’s words, the commissioners launched a burst of laughter, they all knew who Alan Wilson was referring to.

“There is also the fact that there is a certain degree of slavery in Zanzibar, after my interview with the honorable Sultan. The Sultan to will be talking to the Arab upper echelons to wipe out the remnants of slavery. This is an outward claim, essentially we are going to deport a portion of the black population to the African continent in the name of removing the influence of slavery.”

Allen Wilson looked to the Zanzibar Commissioner as he said this, “So Porter, for the next one to two years amongst other things. Part of your job will be to cooperate with the Arabs to drive the blacks to the African continent in the name of freeing the slaves. Cut off the infiltration of Zanzibar by the blacks on the main road.”

“I see!” Porter nodded, “Removing the remnants of slavery, what a glorious job, how exciting.”

“Gentlemen, now that the Americans are talking about national self-determination and the Soviets are talking about freeing the world, it’s unlikely that we’ll have to keep the colonies for long, as British India has set a very bad precedent. But how to retreat, you all knew at the conference in London. We want to keep as many territories as possible in important positions, and Zanzibar is within that range.” Alan Wilson mused, “And of course we need the help of the French, the Governor of Madagascar will be arriving soon, and we need to show respect.”

The purpose of inviting the French was, of course, to exchange experience in the management of colonizers, and the only Frenchman invited to this meeting was because Madagascar was the only French colony in Eastern Africa.

In itself the original intention of the traditional friendship between Britain and France, Allen Wilson made an invitation to the French, but also to talk about the problems of Madagascar, perhaps he can also give the French there are some useful suggestions it.

Before the arrival of the French, Alan Wilson has contacted his old boss, Sir Barron, to see the old boss is responsible for the Persian Gulf affairs, and asked whether the Kingdom of Iraq is willing to shoulder up a greater international responsibility.

It was precisely because the Kingdom of Iraq did not have a bit of sea power and was still part of Asia that Iraq was asked to help. If Iraq was an African pacifist state like Egypt, he wouldn’t have given the other side a chance to reach out.

Then came the formal meeting, with Alan Wilson presenting plans for the development of British Malaya and the support that would be needed from the colonies in British Africa.

“Now that my colleagues have formed the colonial state enterprises and have selected reliable communities to help run them, then I won’t hide anything, the operation of British Malaya is similar. The current resource gaps in British Malaya are these.” Alan Wilson took out a list while explaining, “Malaya’s future industrial development will enter the European market under local deployment and compete with the products of European countries.”

“The advantage of doing so, on the one hand, is to utilize Malaya’s manpower, as well as low costs. It is used to strengthen the total scale of Imperial industry! The other aspect is to allow the resources of British Africa to be utilized quickly. After all, we’re running out of time. We don’t know exactly how long the colony will last, and it’s not a mistake to seize the time to realize it.”

While Allen Wilson spoke, the list of resources needed for British Malaya was passed around in front of the other commissioners. It dealt with all kinds of non-ferrous metals, but there was no coal, for coal and iron were all set to flow in from Australia.

“In the field of agriculture, with Malaya’s infrastructure there is little problem, the mainland is considered a special need. It is important to realize that the mainland is an island, and while Britain is not a country with backward farming techniques, the mainland has a population of 50 million, and the potential for development is gone. Rhodesia and Northern Rhodesia as a center add up to extensive enough farms, and this is a matter of great concern to the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Norman wants a reliable source of food on the mainland.”

“Actually Canada and Australia have that.” Commissioner John of the Sudan raised the question, “The need is not urgent, is it.”

“Australia and Canada certainly have the capacity, but the country that would say they really do is the United States. The key to why we don’t import from the United States is that we have to defend one hand against the United States. Furthermore, both Canada and Australia have unstable climates. Canada’s north faces the Arctic Ocean, while Australia’s food production fluctuates too much. Both countries have also become independent, which is ultimately not as reassuring as the places still in our hands.”

“Centered in North and South Rhodesia, terminated grain is shipped through ports in South Africa and Tanzania. It seems that Tanzania’s ports should be expanded.”

“Yes, but the road situation in Tanzania? It’s better to just rely on the South African ports.”

Alan Wilson slapped his head and said in embarrassment, “Rather forgot about that, so let’s use truck transportation then. In fact, the colony doesn’t have to be profitable, if it can promote the export of domestic products it’s also a good thing, exporting some trucks and whatnot, it can also increase the employment rate.”

“Supporting large farms centered in Rhodesia will also be able to squeeze out the small farmer economies of the surrounding Africa. And as I recall, North Rhodesia is sort of better protected by minefields on both the east and west sides. This way the Africans control the food in the hands of Northern Rhodesia, and using the food as a weapon saves a lot of our cost of maintaining the colony.”

This is in fact what Britain did in Africa in later times, and Britain played a major role in promoting the corporatization of the African food system, with large amounts of aid money spent on sponsoring multinational corporations to capture profits in Africa.

In the twenty-first century, the UK has dramatically increased its overseas aid, insisting on allocating funds from its Gross National Income (GNI) to international aid despite the difficulties of the economic downturn. The UK’s presence can be seen in numerous initiatives to support investment in African agriculture.

A great deal of the money invested in large-scale commercial agribusinesses in developing countries such as African countries passes through tax havens such as the Cayman Islands and the Channel Islands; because of the UK’s jurisdictional land secrecy, most European businesses trying to own the financial instruments they need to acquire land or food overseas are also registered in the UK.

This is certainly not for the sake of having development in agriculture in Africa, but for the sake of composing the corporatization of agriculture in Africa and defeating the subsistence agriculture of the average African farmer.

The only country in this world that can use food as a weapon is the United States. But in the case of Africa alone, Britain could not learn from the United States and utilize food as a weapon as well.

Regarding the agribusiness of British Africa, acting out the list of minerals exported from British Africa to British Malaya is the main purpose of Allen Wilson’s visit this time. The raw materials exported from British Africa together with the coal and iron support received from Australia were made from British Malaya and shipped to Britain as industrial goods to be sold in the Common European Community market.

As to how it was priced, that was Whitehall’s job. The overseas part of this is mainly to complete the economic cycle of the Commonwealth, with the end point being the UK mainland.

There is no doubt that the mainland will get a lot of profit in pricing, British Malaya as an intermediate link also get the profit of this link, the raw materials shipped out of British Africa will have to go through two links, and finally arrive in the European market.

Two wings fly in tandem well, the Commonwealth of this wing how to operate out of the limit, is the colonial commissioner to consider the matter, Alan Wilson in order to be able to compete with Japan, will try to find as much as possible to help, the population size can not spell Japan, then the raw materials must be cheaper than Japan.

Both topics have been discussed, the colonial commissioners have agreed to deploy the quota, this time the French Governor of Madagascar Otto, Gabriel stepped on the land of Zanzibar.