TEMPERATE SURPLUS-PRODUCING REGIONS 95 



SURPLUS-PRODUCING REGIONS. 

 (i) MISCELLANEOUS COUNTRIES OF TEMPERATE LATITUDE. 



The remaining areas in the temperate zones that have some 

 surplus of animal foodstuffs are individually of minor importance, 

 but taken together they contribute an appreciable share of the 

 world's total supplies of animal produce and feedstuffs. 



In the countries of Northern Africa, bordering on the Mediter- 

 ranean, the most important food-producing animals are sheep and 

 goats. These animals are reared extensively in Algeria, which has 

 a surplus of upwards of a million sheep annually for export to 

 France. Morocco also, in its highland pastures, has conditions 

 suitable for the raising of sheep, and a surplus of meat either live 

 or dead, may be exported when the country becomes developed 

 under a more settled government, as it eventually, but probably 

 not immediately, will be. The more easterly countries of Northern 

 Africa, from Tunis to the Suez Canal, have shown but a very small 

 development in meat-producing animal industries, owing to the 

 prevailing semi-arid conditions. Their strength lies more in the 

 rearing of draught animals and beasts of burden, such as mules, 

 donkeys and camels. 



British South Africa, South of the Tropic of Capricorn, is largely 

 a pastoral region, and with the exception of the eastern coastal 

 districts, must remain so in the future. Only a very small fraction 

 of the whole area is suitable in soil and climate for agriculture. 

 It appears that the cultivation of crops is restricted by the marked 

 absence of humus in the soils and their low capacity for retaining 

 moisture. 1 The Dominions Commission, though reserved in stating 

 their conclusion, seem to be of the opinion that South Africa is 

 better suited for animal industries than for crop-production. 2 Other 

 authorities are more emphatic concerning the advantages of South 

 Africa for pastoral industries as compared with crop-cultivation. 3 

 On the whole, it appears that hitherto all farming industries have 

 been somewhat neglected in South Africa owing to the gieat develop- 

 ment of mining. 4 Droughts and animal diseases are the chief 

 obstacles to rapid progress in the agricultural output. The cul- 

 tivation of crops is especially affected by the former, as well as by 

 other factors, such as the impossibility of growing quick cash-crops 

 as in other new countries, the lack of sufficient internal means of 

 transport, and the native labour problems. Animal industries 



1 See Owen Thomas, South Africa, 1904, pp. 12-14. 



Dominions Commission, Third Interim Report, p. 30. " It may be that 

 the main future of farming in the country lies rather in scientific stock-raising 

 than in other forms of agricultural development." 



3 See in this connection : Owen Thomas, South Africa, 1904 ; Bryce, 

 Impressions of South Africa, 1898 ; A. D. Hall, South Africa, in the Oxford 

 Survey of the British Empire, Vol. III., Chap. v. 



4 Dominions Commission, Third Interim Report, p. 11. " The permanent 

 prosperity of the country also demands urgently the further scientific develop- 

 ment of its agricultural wealth." 



