Chapter 723 Eight-year Plan for Agriculture and Education

I have to admit that it is indeed much easier to be a powerful king. Including the previous canal construction and the current World Aircraft Expo, Arthur only needs to propose a framework, and a steady stream of people will improve the framework.

Arthur's eyes will not always stay on a certain aspect. After the World Aircraft Expo, Arthur went to the countryside again for inspection and listened to the report of Agriculture Minister Maciej Sweeney on agricultural construction in the eight-year construction plan. .

Arthur met the newly appointed Minister of Agriculture in a grain-producing area more than 30 kilometers outside Fort Saint-Arthur.

"Your Majesty." Maciej Sweeney saluted respectfully.

"Minister Maciei, please introduce the next construction plan of the agricultural department." Arthur nodded calmly and motioned to Minister Maciei to chat while they walked.

There are a large number of royal guards around, so there is no need to worry about safety issues. In this way, Arthur and Minister Maciei watched the specific construction of the grain-producing area while discussing the Ministry of Agriculture's plan.

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Agriculture will have three main construction projects in the future. They are to ensure water conservancy construction in grain-producing areas, promote agricultural scientific and technological innovation, accelerate scientific and technological construction of agricultural mechanization and improve the agricultural product production chain, and promote agricultural production and agricultural products. Processing and systematic construction to improve the specific income of agricultural practitioners." Minister Maciei introduced it very respectfully.

“The grain-producing area you see currently has three large water storage reservoirs, which can guarantee the water needs of our grain-producing area under any circumstances.

Water conservancy projects like this are spread across all of our grain-producing regions, and it would cost approximately $32 million to build new water conservancy facilities and maintain our existing water conservancy facilities. "

Arthur nodded, having no objection to the amount of funds needed for the water conservancy project.

The most important part of the construction of grain-producing areas is to ensure water supply. These water conservancy constructions are very important and are related to the stability of grain output.

Without adequate water conservancy facilities, drought would have a devastating impact on food production.

These investments are not worth mentioning compared to the entire grain production plan, and they have to be invested.

"Continue." Arthur nodded and motioned for Minister Maciei to continue.

“The Ministry of Agriculture’s second plan is to encourage innovation in agricultural science and technology, encourage the expansion and centralization of grain-producing areas, and at the same time promote agricultural mechanization.

At present, we have made some achievements in agricultural mechanization, but there is still room for improvement.

In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture plans to establish agricultural assistance funds, firstly to help agricultural practitioners better escape the economic crisis, and secondly, to encourage new agricultural technologies to quickly spread across the country.

The Department of Agriculture's current budget in this area requires approximately A$24 million. "Minister Maciei always paid attention to Arthur's face, and only made his request for funds after confirming that there was nothing abnormal.

AUD 24 million was either too much or too little, and Arthur nodded and agreed.

“The third item is about the construction of modern agricultural product system and agricultural product processing industry chain.

We should not only become a major exporter of grain, but also move towards a major country in processing agricultural products.

This will not only help us export food and agricultural products, but also help farmers increase their incomes.

For the construction of agricultural product processing industry chain and system, approximately 30 million Australian dollars in funds are needed. "Minister Maciei continued to introduce:"

In addition to these three major construction projects, the Ministry of Agriculture has also decided to encourage the cultivation of cash crops, such as coffee, grapes, rubber, etc.

At the same time, the Ministry of Agriculture decided to implement minimum guaranteed prices for domestic grains. According to our current domestic average grain prices, grain prices have been fluctuating around A$31 per ton to A$35 per ton.

In order to protect farmers' income, the minimum food security price is tentatively set at 30 Australian dollars per ton. Once the purchase price of commercial grain falls below the minimum guaranteed price, the Ministry of Agriculture will urgently invest to save the grain market to ensure that the income of agricultural workers will not be too low, thus affecting the entire market. "

The continuous increase in food production is a good thing for the country, but it is not necessarily a good thing for the agricultural population.

Food prices in Australasia are also relatively low among the major powers, which also results in the income of agricultural workers being much lower than that of urban workers.

If the country had not continued to export food abroad, I am afraid that the food consumption in Australasia alone would be enough to bankrupt most agricultural practitioners.

No way, this is the disadvantage of a small population. Given the size of the population, food consumption will naturally not increase much.

As less food is consumed, the price of food will naturally become lower and lower. Unless more markets can be found, this will form an endless cycle and is one of the reasons for the economic crisis.

Although the continuous increase in food production and the guarantee of minimum food prices seem to be contradictory, in fact both of them are necessary things to be done.

For a country, both food production and food reserves are important. Australasia has such a huge land area that it is inherently destined that its food output will never be low.

Fortunately, there are now more markets for dumping food, and increasing food production is completely correct from now on.

Guaranteeing the lowest price of food actually means ensuring that agricultural workers have a source of income that is not much different from the per capita income.

It is inevitable that some capitalists will find ways to lower the purchase price of food because of the continuous increase in food production.

This will directly harm the interests of agricultural workers. Instead, middlemen such as capitalists will make the difference.

What the Ministry of Agriculture needs to do is to increase food prices from the source, so that middlemen can make less money from the price difference, and at least ensure that the most basic agricultural workers can have enough income.

The Department of Agriculture's three construction plans require approximately A$86 million in funding, which is acceptable to Arthur.

After all, such a large-scale construction cannot be completed in one year. If divided equally over eight years, the Ministry of Agriculture's annual funding will only be tens of millions of Australian dollars.

After agreeing to Minister Maciei’s three requests, before finally returning, Arthur encouraged Minister Maciei: “I recognize the three construction plans of the Ministry of Agriculture and believe that Minister Maciei can effectively manage them. Ministry of Agriculture and the country's food production.

Food is the lifeblood of the country. The Ministry of Agriculture must be cautious when formulating plans and take into account the interests of agricultural workers.

These three proposals are very good. Tell Prime Minister Raul that your proposal was approved by me. "

Minister Maciei looked happy and responded repeatedly.

Obtaining Arthur's approval means that this proposal will 100% pass the cabinet vote.

No one would fail to give Arthur face, and Arthur's words would definitely carry the weight of his words in the cabinet government.

Arthur, who returned to the palace, had not rested long before the education department submitted its plan to Arthur.

Although Arthur can safely leave it to the government to make its own decisions most of the time, this is an important link that determines the next development plan every few years, and the control of related funds cannot be done without Arthur.

Without Arthur, the Ministry of Finance alone would not have the authority to approve the Ministry of Agriculture’s funding application of nearly 100 million Australian dollars.

If it is put to a cabinet vote, there will be all kinds of quarrels between ministers competing for the budget, and the efficiency of work will be greatly reduced for no reason.

It is precisely because of this that when ministers compete for budgets, they will give priority to Arthur.

If Arthur nods in agreement, he can obtain funding directly from the Ministry of Finance without going through a vote by the cabinet government.

However, if you want to get Arthur's nod of approval, you will definitely not be able to do it without some real skills.

After all, Arthur has the vision from future generations, and on some projects, he will know better how to do it correctly.

Education is an eternal and major topic in the development of a country, and it is also one of the important factors that determine the future strength of a country.

Although Australasia does not have the famous saying that young people make the country strong, the emphasis on education has been deeply engraved in the hearts of every official.

However, compared to agriculture, the Ministry of Education’s plan is relatively simple.

The first is the number of universities.

As time entered 1929, the number of universities in Australasia also exceeded 50, and the average number of universities in each state-level administrative region had exceeded two.

Such figures are obviously still behind Europe, and even worse than the already-dead United States.

After this victory over the United States, Australasia can absorb many experts and professors who have lost their jobs in prestigious American universities, and there will be enough teachers to build new universities.

In the plan of the Ministry of Education, 48 universities are planned to be built in the next eight years, almost doubling the existing number of universities.

In addition to the branch campuses established by relatively well-known universities, these 48 universities will also cooperate with some universities in the United States to establish branch campuses of American universities.

For example, the famous University of California in the United States is currently under the control of Australasia.

The Kingdom of California has been determined to be the territory controlled by the two little guys, and Arthur will naturally not directly move the University of California here.

However, with the reputation and faculty of the University of California, there is no problem in building a branch campus in Australasia.

If the construction of these 48 universities is completed within eight years, Australasia will have hundreds of universities in eight years, and the number of college students graduating every year will be close to 100,000, which will initially meet the needs of national development.

Although it is a good thing that the number of universities is increasing, as college students' academic qualifications become universal, university academic qualifications are destined to depreciate a lot.

This is the trend of the times and is a good thing for the country. Arthur will naturally not stop the development of such a trend.

After all, think about it, even those industries that require physical labor require a minimum university degree. Doesn’t this mean that the country’s educational development is very smooth?

The only possibility is that those college students will suffer. Although they will not be unemployed, the competition to get a relatively easy and good position is becoming more and more competitive.

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