Mediterranean Hegemony Road

Chapter 79, Agricultural Issues

By the end of 1925, more than half of Bulgaria's ten-year plan had been completed, and many projects invested in the early stage had now come to harvest.

Up to now, the total industrial volume of Bulgaria has increased by 63% compared with 19 years, and the average annual industrial growth rate is 13%, the growth rate ranks first in the world.

In contrast, the biggest competitor in Ferdinand's mind, the British Empire, has experienced a negative growth in the total industrial volume in recent years. Compared with 19 years, it has not only not increased, but has fallen by nearly 13 percentage points.

Ferdinand was not surprised by this situation. Historically, the British industry was also in a state of decline. Before the economic crisis broke out in 1929, the total industrial volume of the British Empire accounted for only 9% of the world, compared with 1913. fell by a third.

Without the help of the three North American countries to pull the data, the total industrial volume of the British Empire is actually terrible, and the local industrial volume has been overtaken by Bulgaria.

The manufacturing population fell by a quarter from the previous year, a drop that would have been even greater had it not been for the chaos in Germany.

No matter how it falls, the British Empire is still the world's largest industrial power, accounting for 3.6% of the world's total industry, followed by Bulgaria, which only accounts for 10% of the world's total industry. At 8.3, the gap between the two sides is still huge.

In contrast, the industrial growth rate of Germany and Italy is very impressive, the annual growth rate is more than 10%, although the growth is only light industry.

The total industrial volume of Italy has now surpassed its peak, and it has increased by nearly 18% compared with the peak in 1914.

Germany also returned to its 1907 industrial volume, a figure that would have been even higher had it not been for the sudden Ruhr crisis.

If Britain and France continue to transfer production capacity, it may take a few years for German industry to recover, and Italy will have the opportunity to surpass France and become the fourth largest industrial country in Europe.

Although Britain and France are on the decline in industry, their economic development speed is not slow at all, far exceeding the world average economic growth level.

With the dividends of deindustrialization, in 1925 the British grew at a rate of 6.3 percent and the French at 7.1 percent.

At least half of this growth has been contributed by real estate, which in 1925 averaged more than 40 per cent growth in UK house prices, while London house prices nearly tripled.

The average house price increase in France is also more than 20%, and the price increase in Paris is as high as 100%.

These are all inevitable. The British Isles have a limited area and the rapid growth of housing prices is also inevitable. By contrast, France's mainland is much larger, more than twice the size of the British, and the populations of the two countries are almost the same.

Ferdinand didn't bother to read these false data. According to economists, the economic growth of Britain and France violated the laws of the market, and the artificially hyped economy would have disastrous consequences once the bubble burst.

However, it seems that every economic crisis in the capitalist world is artificially hyped and relied on by the market to adjust itself. How is that possible?

Capital is profit-seeking. Driven by interests, there is nothing that capitalists dare not do. When it comes to economic research, the black hands behind the scenes are the most professional.

"Your Majesty, this is the work summary table of the government in 1925, please take a look!"

As Constantine spoke, he handed Ferdinand a statement. A summary of the work of the government is definitely not a list.

The detailed work situation, if aggregated,

I am afraid that a room can not be piled up, and Ferdinand does not have the time to study it carefully.

I glanced at it briefly. Like previous reports, there was nothing new, except for industry, agriculture, education, medical care, and economics.

What makes him concerned is that the speed of agricultural development in Bulgaria has begun to fall behind. Even though he has increased agricultural investment, the speed of agricultural development has been overtaken by other industries.

If nothing else, this gap will continue to grow in the future, and the scissors gap between industry and agriculture will continue to expand.

"Prime Minister, have you noticed that in 1925 Bulgaria's agricultural output grew by only 8 percent, including our newly developed arable land.

If after deducting this part, the actual agricultural growth rate will be even lower, does that also mean that our rural economy has now reached its limit? ' asked Ferdinand

"Your Majesty, this is an inevitable result. The rapid growth of our agriculture in the past few years was based on the large-scale land reclamation of the military nobles. Now that their land has almost been reclaimed, the rapid growth will naturally stop.

As for our rural economy, there is not much development potential, and some economists even believe that our rural economy will go backwards in the future.

In terms of income growth rate, in 1925, the income growth rate of farmers was only 1.2%, while the average wage growth rate of the whole society remained at about 5.3%.

If nothing else, within 20 years, Bulgaria's agricultural population will drop by half, and many of the agricultural population will be converted into industrial population due to the difference in income!

Our land structure will also change, the situation of land annexation will be more serious, and a large amount of land will be gathered into the hands of a few people, which has become a development trend. "Constantine analyzed.

Ferdinand nodded slightly. He also knew these situations. With the development of science and technology, integrated agriculture is the future development direction, and the small-scale peasant economy has no prospects for development.

Although farmers in Bulgaria now have an area of ​​19.5 hectares of arable land per capita, and in some areas they are all landlords, they still cannot prevent this from happening.

Well, the average data is unreliable. There are not a few big nobles in Bulgaria with tens of thousands of hectares of land. Bulgarian agricultural companies even hold tens of millions of hectares of land, so they are averaged. It's ridiculous for farmers.

The actual amount of land held by farmers is very small, accounting for only 5.7% of the total land in Bulgaria. In this way, most people own about 1 hectare of land.

This is also an inevitable result, although Bulgaria's population is growing rapidly, it does not mean that the population of farmers is also growing rapidly.

Although the birth rate of the rural population is the highest, most of these people choose to leave when they become adults. Except for the eldest son who inherited the family business, everyone else has to go out to make a living.

Besides, there are still a large number of immigrants in Bulgaria. Ferdinand did not turn them into peasants, nor did he do the stupid thing of distributing land. Most of these people turned into workers.

As of 1925, the agricultural population of Bulgaria still did not exceed 8 million. This is counting all the new babies in the countryside. If you deduct those who are destined to go out to make a living, the number will be even lower, perhaps less than 5 million. .

There is no difference between urban and rural household registration in Bulgaria. It may only take one day to transition from a farmer to a worker, and to transition from a worker to a farmer, you only need to buy a piece of land.

In this vast and sparsely populated country, restricting the population to settle down is completely nonsense.

There is no interest to contend for, and the Bulgarian government will naturally not make restrictions.

Education is elite education. No matter how hard a genius works, he can't be admitted to a university. Just after completing compulsory education, there is a big difference in the quality of education.

Not to mention medical resources. First of all, you must have money. The medical expenses in this era are simply not affordable for ordinary people. It is useless to fight for money!

It is very simple to change the household registration in Bulgaria, as long as you live in one place for three years, have a legal income, and have no criminal record, you can settle down.

"Prime Minister, has the government considered that if the income of farmers is increased, it must be known that with the continuous development of the economy, many rural people will become poor due to the scissors difference between industry and agriculture in the future!" Ferdinand thought for a while and said

"Your Majesty, this issue is very complicated. Unless they can increase their land holdings, the increase in income is very limited just by increasing production!

Even if it is to change to economic crops, it is not so easy, because of the social supply and demand relationship, except for the bulk agricultural products such as wheat and potatoes, the prices of other economic agricultural products are difficult to stabilize. Even if the government guides, there is no way to solve the problem.

For example, the price of apples this year is very high, but when everyone goes to plant apples, after three to five years, the apples will have a bumper harvest. Due to the increase in production, the price will naturally fall. In the end, not only did it not help the fruit farmers, but it hurt them even more. ' explained Constantine

Ferdinand nodded. This is an inevitable result. Unless a planned economy is implemented, it is unavoidable according to the natural adjustment of market laws.

"Well, this is a very serious social problem, if nothing else, our rural population will become poor in 20 years.

We have to make preparations in advance, such as: guiding them to work in cities, selling or contracting out the land; in areas with special conditions, we can also develop special industries suitable for the local area..." Ferdinand thought for a while and said

In the middle of the twentieth century, the problem of farmers' income became a worldwide problem. By comparison, Bulgaria's problems are relatively small.

Due to several wars, many peasants in Bulgaria have evolved into military nobles. After the rise of these people, they basically went to the fiefs for development.

Their departure has made the phenomenon of local land tension no longer exist, and eased the contradiction between people and land. Otherwise, this issue will not have to wait twenty years, and now Ferdinand has to consider the income gap between urban and rural areas.

Although it is an inevitable choice of the times that the income of the working class exceeds that of the peasantry in the long run, the living standard of the peasants is still higher than that of the workers in the short term.

"Your Majesty, the conditions are not yet mature. Judging from the current economic situation in Bulgaria, it is still too early to develop the tertiary industry. Our domestic tourism industry, which has just started, is still struggling.

It is easy to create tourist attractions, but it is impossible to make profits in the short term. The income of the people is still very limited, and their enthusiasm for tourism is not high.

As for other special industries, in fact, the Ministry of Agriculture has long been engaged in planting some special products according to local conditions, but the current output value is limited.

The most representative one is the Rose Industrial Park that you personally explained, but this kind of success cannot be replicated, and other regions do not have this particularity! ' explained Constantine

Ferdinand nodded. Not every industry can create an industry chain. For example, roses are a special industry in Bulgaria. Although there are other places, there is no way to compare with Bulgaria in terms of quality.

This is the core factor of the great success of the Ferdinand Rose Industrial Park. The whole world knows that Bulgarian roses are the best and the brand value has been born.

Whether choosing rose essential oil, rose drink or rose wine, the first reaction of ordinary people will think of Bulgaria.

God's back garden is the best advertising word!

Under the operation of Ferdinand, this sentence has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. The additional brand value is reflected in the interests. The success of the Rose Industrial Park is not as simple as it seems.

In contrast, the wine industry chain that Ferdinand is still operating has far less development potential, and its profitability is incomparable.

The French wine brand has been established, and the Bulgarian wine can only succumb to it. Although it is not a winner-take-all, the winner still takes the biggest share.

It is impossible to achieve a counterattack in the short term. Without dozens of hours of hard work, it is difficult to establish a Bulgarian wine brand.

If the brand cannot be established, there will be no brand value, so the profit will be very limited.

In the end, the profit is fed back to the grape planting. The profit of wine is not high, so the income of fruit farmers who plant grapes will naturally not be high.

Ferdinand recalled that on such a large country as Bulgaria, there are still those special products, and those agricultural products have the possibility of international promotion, and finally found that there are many things, but not many with economic value.

For example: handmade leather shoes, handicrafts, corals in Serbia; tourism and fruits in Greece; carpets and dates in the Arabian Peninsula; plant resources in Asia Minor...

These industries may have room for development in the future, but in this period, they do not have any economic value.

People all over the world are not yet rich, isn't it nonsense to develop these industries? Who is still interested in traveling when there is not enough to eat?

Tourism can't develop. Who can these industrial souvenirs be sold to?

The same is true for fruit. There are too few people with spending power. Most people can only afford local cheap fruits. High-end imported products are too extravagant.

...

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