SELF-SUFFICIENCY

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 129, 3 June 1935, Page 9

SELF-SUFFICIENCY

MOVEMENT IIJ GERMANY

AGRICULTURAL PROGRAMME

NEW BARTER MARKETS

Germany's efforts to make herself as far as possible self-sufficient, in the production of the necessities of life vyithin her own borders and the putchase of what cannot be so produced from countries which will take German exports in exchange, are described in an article published by the German Institute for Business Research and reprinted in the "Manchester Guardian." The article gives the following estimates of Germany's degree of selfsufficiency in recent years:— Food Requirements Met by Domestic Production. (a) Not Including Imported Fodder ; Used in Processing. Percent. 08-100 Rye, wheat, malt barley, oats, potatoes, sugar, total meat, lard, cow's milk, goat's milk. :■• 90-97 Total milk and dairy products (including cheese), bacon, freshwater fish, vegetables. • 80-89 Animal fats (including butter and lard), venison, fruit 70-79 Poultry, eggs, honey. 60-69 Saltwater fish, total fish. 50-59 Total fats. ' I 40-49 Total legumes. 30-39 Nuts. 20-29 Buckwheat, beans. " 10-19 Margarine, lentils. ,1-9 Total vegetable fats, millet, maize for corn-starch. Less than 1 Unmixed vegetable fats, table oils, tropical and semi-tropical fruits, cocoa, rice, sago, spices, etc.; (b) Including imported fodder. Per cent. 80-90 Pork. 60-70 Total dairy products, lard. (For simplicity the total fodder imports have been distributed among the items pork, lard, and dairy products.) Part of these foodstuffs produced in Germany involved imported fodder, such as grains, oil cakes, and fish meal. The actual degree of self-sufficiency is thus at present considerably lower than the estimate under (a) in the table, for it is also necessary to consider the imported fodder used in processing as well as the directly-imported foodstuffs. In the case of dairy products (milk, butter, and cheese), for example, Germany supplied approximately 92 per cent, of the total requirements in 1933, but thesa products involved imported fodder. When this factor is taken into consideration the amount is only 66 per cent. The table also indicates that the chief problem of German self-suffi-ciency lies in the production of fats and proteins. In both groups considerable imports have been necessary, especially of butter, cheese, eggs (cheese and eggs consist chiefly of proteins and fat), lard, tallow, whale oil, and oil seeds. The oil seeds are processed in Germany into vegetable oils (for margarine and table oils) as well as to make protein-containing fodder, which in turn increases the production of milk, butter, cheese, and beef. RAW MATERIALS. ' Of the industrial requirements for agricultural raw materials Genhan agriculture has supplied the following share during the= past years:—' • . Raw Materials Supplied by Domestic Production. Per cent. 95-100 Hops, alcohol. 70-79 Timber, wine (including cider). 50-59 Skins and hides. 30-39 Feathers. 20-29 Tobacco. ; ' 10-19 Flax, tanning materials. 5-9 WooL .1-4 Oil seeds, oil cakes, vegetable oils. ..;■■' Less than : ], Hemp, jute, hard fibres, cotton^ •; silk, rubber, resinous products, , shellac, etc. After discussing the measures to enlarge crops by better cultivation and improvement and reclamation of land, the report says the yield per acre can be raised by about 10 per cent. It is estimated that there are now 10,600,000 acres of unutilised land in Germany which is suitable for cultivation,,equivalent to roughly 10 per cent, of the total land now under cultivation (arable, pasture, and forest). This land offers considerable opportunity for extending the basis of Germany's food supply. . -i "Planless over-production" of some products will have to be avoided. Land must be available for the increased planting of products of which there is now a shortage (textile fibres, etc.). Thus if the acreage yield can be raised, the acreage under rye, potatoes, and barley might be reduced. PROGRAMME OF PRODUCTION. • The report sums up the aims of the ' agricultural programme as follows: — The present self-sufficiency in grain and, potatoes for human consumption can be maintained. In addition, the deficiency in fodder grains can be made up." . The supply of vegetable oils and oil cakes can be improved. A considerable increase over present domestic production is not improbable. On the basis of improved fodder conditions and better breeding of farm animals, it can also be expected that the requirements for dairy products can be met by domestic production. In the case of legumes for food purposes the planned extension of land under cultivation should lead to selfsufficiency. A dependency upon' imports of certain vegetables and fruit, occasioned by climatic conditions, will continue. An increase of the land used for raising flax to 220,000 acres—in 1872 there were 531,000 acres of flax under cultivation —would not only supply the present demand for flax but would also enable the present production to be doubled. An extension of land used for raising hemp to cover the domestic demand is quite possible. , An increase of domestic wool production from 9 per cent, of consumption at present to about 30 per cent, is possible by tripling the number of sheep (now 3,300,000).

It will take several years to achieve such results, says the Institute. Even then the imports of agricultural products need not become superfluous, They would be limited mainly to products such as coffee, tobacco, cocoa, tropical and semi-tropical fruits, which are not absolute necessities. In times of low exports and therefore shortage of foreign exchange at least the dbmestic supply of necessities would be more or less secured; in more favourable times the imports, which at present still consist largely of absolute necessi* ties, could be increased and would help to raise the standard of living. Thus, even after the agricultural programme was successfully carried out, there would still remain ample possibilities for an international exchange of German industrial products in return for exports of foodstuffs. EFFECT ON MARKETS. The shift in Germany's raw material supplies since her new economic policy began affects old markets.

. The Institute points out that in recent years Germany has consumed be-

tween 11 and 13 per cent, of the world production of wool, between 8 and 9 per cent, of that of cotton, between 2 and 3 per cent, of that of silk, between 3 and 4 per cent, of that of flax and hemp (German production excluded), and between 6 and 8 per cent, of that of jute. Germany's purchases in foreign raw material markets have fallen since 1934, but at the same time a great part of her purchases have been shifted to new markets. Imports have increased rapidly from countries with which it has been possible to arrange an exchange of goods in spite of the foreign exchange difficulties. The main markets illustrated are:—

Cotton.—Old markets: United States, India, Egypt, China. Other countries: Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Turkey, Belgian Congo, French West Africa. Wool.—Old markets: Australia, South Africa, Uruguay, New Zealand. Other countries: Argentina, Turkey. , "For various reasons the old raw material countries do not wish to take German industrial products in return for the raw materials they offer. They are either prevented because they are industrialised countries themselves (as, for example, the United States) or (as in the case of parts of the British Empire) they are bound by political or financial ties in purchasing their industrial goods. In contrast, most of the 'new* raw material countries are freer in their import policies, especially when it means a simultaneous increase in their exports. Compensation (barter) transactions are more easily arranged under such circumstances. With Germany in her present condition this signifies increased ability of the younger countries to compete on the raw material markets, even if their prices might be slightly higher than those of the other countries.

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