Page 609
D
ti
0
וזן
זין
เต
الا
ין
"
ub
I
=
J [
1
t
ut
**
J
1
1.
11
11
/1
1
Page 609
י
"
1.
J
}
|
·] ༡༣
"L
#k
UC
1
T
1 11
1
MJ
ון
:
11
10
Page 609
1
01
1
11
ן
134
$110
انا
J
precio of 1097
310
big riskspanery8f 107pening up new front rs610 97 Colonial Empire.
is vital, therefore, that we should persevere with our efforts unless we are to discredit the very principle of public enterprise, at any rate in this field.
We
19.
And, above all, how could we, after having spent $30 million, abandon the Scheme at this stage, before we have enough experience to judge whether it will prove a success or not? We have no grounds whatever for saying that it will fail, any more than we can "prove" its ultimate success. cannot use the costs during the first two years as a sound basis on which to estimate the final operating costs of the Scheme. Until we have allowed development to go on long enough for more reliable estimates of costs to be made, how can we make any real estimate of the final outcome? Surely we should lay ourselves open to every sort of criticism if we were to give up now. Not only should we be abandoning a project which had not had a chance of proving itself, but we should be dealing a severe blow to enterprise throughout the Commonwealth. For the groundnuts scheme has come to be looked upon as a prototype for this kind of large scale development.
The world needs more food
20.
The Chief Scientific Officer of the Ministry of Agriculture recently gave it as his opinion that because the population of the world is increasing at the rate of 20 million a year it will be necessary to double the world's food produc- tion in the next 26 years. If we are to plan for a satis- factory food supply for the housewives of this country, and for the population of our Colonial territories, we must not try to ignore the effect which this increase in world population, coupled with a general acceptance of the fact that the pre-war standard of nutrition is unacceptable, will have on the world food situation. If we are to plan for plenty we must base our plan on increased production. This means that new frontiers must be opened up. The East African Groundnut Scheme is a pioneering effort to use modern equipment to bring marginal land into service for the production of food and if necessary other raw materials. The real need for the increased supply of food is no less urgent today than it was when the scheme was launched and to abandon it now would only make our eventual long term food problem more difficult. If we can make this project succeed we will have provided a prototype for similar developments elsewhere throughout the world. We will have developed and demonstrated a new clearing and production technique for tropical countries.
The effects of abandonment on our Colonial Territories
21.
The Groundnut Scheme has become an important symbol in our Colonial Empire. It is a bold experiment to raise the economic productivity of the African territories by replacing the primitive hoe by modern mechanical agricultural machines. The output per head of the agricultural worker can be lifted substantially and so provides an economic base for the develop- ment of a higher standard of life. The work provides openings for skilled and semi-skilled labour. One of the more spectacular successes of the scheme has been the way in which it has been possible to recruit and train local labour for many skilled jobs. Men have trekked from all over Tanganyika Territory to secure jobs. The possibilities for the Africans are considerable. If we abandon all this and break up the scheme, the Africans not only in Tanganyika but throughout the whole of Eage 610rafcb09711 suffer a great aPage1mofa097and it will be another blow for British prestige.
- 7 m
: