Evening star., 1948-11-22

tagging food production 10 rapidly
increased.
Aid Plan Only Palliative.
The Marshall Plan, they realize,
is only temporary palliative. The
only long-term solution to Europe's
food problem is to bring into pro-
duction millions and millions Of
acres of new farmland.
The only new farmland that can
be quickly brought into production
Is to be found in the uninhabited
bush country of British East Africa.
Fats are the most important lack
In the European diet today. The
fat shortage of Western Europe as
a whole this year is expected to
exceed the equivalent Of 5000, 900
tons Of peanuts, the cheapest source
Of edible oil. The shortage Of fats
in the United Kingdom alone is
expected to exceed one-fourth that
amount, or the equivalent of 1,5O0,-
600 tons of peanuts.
Dollar Saving Seen.
India and Pakistan, before the
war. supplied Western Europe with
1000 900 tons of peanuts every year.
Now, In consequence of their ma
tional revolutions, domestic fat con-
sumption has increased to the point
where neither country is able to
export any more peanuts to Europe.
Such Is the basis argument in de-
fense of the Overseas Food Corps
revolutionary experiment In East
Africa.
Secondary Socialist arguments in
clude the following:
East Africa's peanut crop, which
Is expected to overcome Britan's
fat shortage within 10 years, will
not only save the dollars that would
otherwise have to be spent on i'm
ported fats but will also greatly re-
duce the cost of fats to the British
housewife. y
Bungling Cited.
The peanut project, moreover. is
an effective means of rehabilitating
the undernourished peasants of East
Africa, who have hitherto subsisted
on. the pitifully meager crops OBJ
tanned by antiquated methods on
exhausted, overcrowded land. \
If the peanut project succeeds
and I think 1t WILT will succeed
in spite Of, rather than because of,
the bungling Socialist planning be-
hind 1t.
1t will cost at least twice the S1l0,-
000, 900 allotted to the Overseas Food
Corp. 1t will take twice as long as
the planners thought to grow pea
nuts at the rate of 100000 tons q
year.
And the ultimate cost per ton,
despite Socialist accounting meth
DDS, will be closer to the present
world price of $3.50 than to the $50
anticipated In the plan.
New Port to BE Overtaxed.
Even though q new port at
Mikindani is being rushed to COM
pletion, 1t will be incapable of
handling more than half the nuts
that Liwale alone Is expected to
produce.
The overcrowded port of Oar es
means Port Of Welcome') has now
reached what the local manager of
the Union Castle Line has accur-
ately described as - chronic state
Of indescribable chaos" and the
larger port Of Mcmbasa Is only
slightly better OF.
The East African railways, for
many years to come, will be incap-
able Of handling more than o small
fraction Of the expected peanut
trafiic. The same is true Of East
Africa's primitive unpaved high
ways.
The only way out that can see
Is for the Overseas Food Corp. to
abandon its plan Of shipping shelled
nuts In bulk to Britain and to place
orders Immediately for q dozen or
more mills to squeeze the nuts into
oil at the various centers Of produc-
ton. The shipping weight involved
could thus be reduced to q figure