After the marriage, Ernst had a lot of business to deal with, and the progress of the construction of the railway and the factory was generally not too problematic, and the renovation of the canals and rivers was supervised by Konstantin.

"Your Highness, this is a telegram from the Northern Province, according to the local government, there is an outbreak of locust plague in the Vasangali Sultanate next door."

Ernst took the telegram and read it: "This matter! I'll see, well, desert locusts, old friends. ”

It is not too much to say that it is an old friend, Ernst had dealt with this desert locust in his previous life, of course, the main thing is the over-exaggeration of the Internet, which made this locust seem to have become an incurable disease, which made Ernst, who was working in Tanzania at the time, a little speechless.

One of the lowest rumors was 2020: African desert locusts crossed the Red Sea, invaded India, and possibly into the Far East.

Regardless of whether the desert locusts can adapt to the environment of the Far East, it is just that the source of the locust plague is actually the Arabian Peninsula, but the unscrupulous media are all accompanied by pictures and texts from Kenya and Somalia, which misleads people that the locust plague reached India from Africa across the Red Sea.

The locust plague crossed the Red Sea, but jumped from the Arabian Peninsula to Somalia and Kenya, in fact, this incident should be blamed on the Arab region, the source of the locust plague is in the Rub al-Khali Desert, this desert belongs to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman and Yemen, in which Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as the Middle East tyrants, did not play their role at all, caught up with the civil strife in Yemen at that time, did not sow pesticides in time, caused the second reproduction of locusts, and finally formed a once-in-a-century locust plague, Africa is the victim.

There was already a famine in Somalia, especially in the case of a locust plague, and the situation in Kenya was slightly better, but the locust plague was far more harmful to the two countries than in the Arabian Peninsula, and the already not wealthy families were even worse.

Just by listening to the name, you know the active area of the desert locust, which mainly inhabits desert and semi-desert areas. Expand the area that may be threatened, that is, the confluence of deserts and grasslands, of course, if there is a large-scale outbreak, the area that can be affected is much wider, but it is only an impact, not the same as a disaster.

This area is roughly the entire North Africa (Sahara Desert), the Red Sea coast, the arid region of the northwest of the Arabian Peninsula and the South Asian subcontinent (present-day India), the Horn of East Africa.

The areas of East Africa that are likely to be invaded by desert locusts are Turkana (Ethiopian highlands), Northern and Juba provinces (Somalia), Orientale and South Prussia (Kenya), Uganda and South Sudan, and parts of Tanzania.

Some areas are very spiritual, why some areas, it is the junction zone, or the intersection of semi-humid and semi-arid areas.

This means that desert locusts are not adapted to the humid climate of the more south, which is in fact the case, but even so, the area that could be affected in East Africa is more than a million square kilometers (deserts and semi-arid deserts, mainly arid grasslands), so it is necessary to take precautions.

"Inform the Ministry of Agriculture to let the pest control centers in the northern region take preventive measures to avoid the spread of the disaster and reduce the impact on our East Africa, especially the Eastern Province and South Prussia Province to take strict precautions, give full play to the population advantage, and avoid major disasters."

As for the desert locust, East Africa is powerless, at least for the time being, and can only be avoided as much as possible.

In fact, Ernst did have a complete treatment plan, but it did not work, mainly because East Africa was too small in the Somali region.

The most effective way to deal with locusts is nothing more than advanced scientific and technological means, which East Africa is powerless, followed by the tactics of crowds, through the mobilization of the masses to eliminate the locust plague through various means.

However, the total population of East Africa in Somalia is only more than 300,000, and the desert area is more than 100,000 square kilometers, and the desert locust lives in the desert is the desert.

The last is biological prevention and control, this method is not a method at all, the difference between desert locusts and other locusts is that they are active in the desert, what kind of chicken, duck herding is ineffective, who raises chickens and ducks in the desert!

In the same way, it is difficult for other organisms to survive in the desert, so it is not realistic to introduce other organisms to control locusts.

Of course, East Africa is not doing nothing, Somalia has a small population, Kenya can have a lot, especially the southern region with a relatively concentrated population, and southern Kenya is an important cotton and coffee producing area in East Africa, so it is still necessary to actively mobilize local forces to prevent locust invasion.

Monitor the locust invasion path, and carry out manual intervention in the locust spawning area, such as turning the soil, fire, irrigation and other effective measures.

In fact, when the locusts enter the East African plateau, they will not have much climate, and the geography and environment will block most of the locusts.

For example, desert locusts are extremely dependent on the direction of the wind and generally fly with the wind, while most of East Africa is controlled by the southeast trade winds, so desert locusts must travel against the wind if they want to enter the East African plateau.

Not only that, but as the topography of the East African plateau rises, the temperature also drops, and the desert locust likes high temperatures, especially in the 40s, and reproduces the fastest, which is why the desert locust does not invade the middle and high latitudes (such as Europe).

Therefore, after the outbreak of desert locusts in northern East Africa, the vast majority of them will follow the southwest monsoon towards the Arabian Peninsula and the South Asian subcontinent (India).

The locust outbreak site is in northern Somalia, so East Africa only needs to do a good job of prevention in Kenya, an important agricultural production area, and as for the Somali region of East Africa, it depends on the destiny of heaven.

The possible consequence is nothing more than the increase in the price of Somali bananas imported from Europe, and it would be good to plant them when the disaster has passed, anyway, the climate is the same all year round, with water from the Shabelle and Juba rivers irrigating, and they can be replanted at any time.

"Next, do a good job in grain dispatch, ensure food security in Somalia, and let our people contact Zanzibar businessmen, if this locust plague expands to the Middle East, then we must fill the gap as soon as possible and seize the grain market."

If the Middle East is affected, it will definitely be good news for East Africa, and if every locust plague can achieve this effect, then Ernst wishes that this kind of "good thing" happened every year, and it would not be a problem for East Africa to suffer a little disaster.

Because Ernst had never developed agriculture in northern East Africa, 80% of the grain in Somalia was transported from the ports of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa.

Although banana cultivation in Somalia is important to Somalia, it can be grown in other parts of East Africa and is not irreplaceable.

The agricultural production areas of East Africa can be divided into three main regions, one is the wheat growing area of the East African plateau, the other is the coastal rice growing area, and the other is the Great Lakes region, which is a multi-functional growing area where everything is grown.

This is followed by Zambia, Zimbabwe, Turkana provinces, then the northern pastures, the rubber-growing regions of the Mitumba Mountains, and finally Somalia (Northern and Juba provinces).

Basically, important grain producing areas and cash crop producing areas will not be affected by locust plagues, and if they are placed in a country with a free economic system, they will certainly not be able to withstand disasters of this magnitude.

However, the Kingdom of East Africa is not a country with a free economic system, and the losses suffered by the unilateral disaster areas are borne by the state, so the farmers will not go bankrupt, and if they do not go bankrupt, there will be no turmoil.

The Middle East, on the other hand, suffered huge agricultural losses, and colonies such as the Ottoman Empire and Egypt had a headache.

Ernst didn't even bother to hope that the locust plague would hit the wheat producing areas of northwestern India (mainly today's ****) hard, so that East Africa would be able to capture more of the grain market.

Of course, this kind of thinking, just think about it, the locust plague that occurs once in a hundred years is not so easy to encounter.

(End of chapter)