Opportunity Always Accompanies Crisis

Ever since news arrived that the French Government intended to launch the "Colonial Farm Plan," the Vienna Government had been on edge.

Even now, agriculture remained Austria's most important pillar industry and employed the largest share of the population.

The international grain market had limited capacity. If Austria had not convened the International Agricultural Summit and taken the lead in establishing the International Agricultural Export Alliance, with the major grain-producing countries jointly controlling export volumes, setting grain prices together, and avoiding vicious competition, no one would be enjoying such good times now.

However, all of this rested on the premise of a basic balance between grain supply and demand. Any country that increased its grain production capacity would cause market turmoil.

Franz asked, "How much colonial land suitable for agricultural development do the French have?"

Colonial Minister Stephen replied, "Based on the information gathered by the Colonial Ministry, French Africa alone has over one million square kilometers of arable land available for development, with roughly more than five hundred thousand square kilometers of fertile soil suitable for agricultural production.

"It is mainly distributed across 210,000 square kilometers in French Algeria, 120,000 square kilometers in French Morocco, 40,000 square kilometers in French Tunisia, 60,000 square kilometers in French Egypt..."

The natural environment and territorial boundaries of this era differed from those of later generations, so discrepancies in arable land area were inevitable.

For example, Tunisia had been divided between the United Kingdom and France, Morocco was filled with the influence of the United Kingdom, France, and Spain, and French Egypt even included half of Sudan.

Upon hearing this answer, everyone's expressions grew even graver.

With so much land, even if they did not develop all of it—if they developed merely one-third, or even one-fifth—the French would be able to achieve self-sufficiency.