Changing regions can only be done slowly, and Carlo has enough patience for this.
But for another thing, Carlo was not so patient, which was to build Italy's food reserves.
Speaking of which, Italy is a standard grain importing country. Italy’s grain import volume is second only to the British Empire, and it is the second largest grain importing country in Europe. Currently, Italy needs to import about 2.4 million tons of grain, and it purchases it every year.
The cost of food is not a small amount. And as Italy's population increases in recent years, Italy will import more and more food.
Therefore, Carlo cannot sit idly by and ignore this food problem. You must know that the saying "No farmers, no stability, no work, no wealth" is not wrong at all for Italy. The food security problem has reached a point where there is no need to delay.
So today, Carlo summoned his ministers to discuss Italy's food problem.
"Dear ministers, I have just seen the statistics of the total grain production over the years, and the results make me very uneasy. Last year, our total grain production in Italy was 8.71 million tons, and the grain gap reached 22%. It can be said that our country's annual grain production is huge.
The import volume puts our country in a subordinate position of food dominance. This makes me very uneasy, for fear that other countries will suddenly stop exporting to our country.
Food was in short supply, and what should we do. So then I checked our country’s food reserves. After all, every housewife knows that the family needs to prepare food for at least half a month, and cannot buy food in two or three days, but
The results of the inspection made me very shocked, because our country’s grain reserves are only 150,000 tons, which is enough to feed the people of the country for four to five days, and then what?”
Carlo looked at the ministers who were sitting upright, and then continued. "Gentlemen, you are all important ministers of the kingdom. You must face up to the dangers that may be caused by food reserves. This is related to the safety of the kingdom. So you can make suggestions and suggestions.
opinions and suggestions,”
Carlo's words caused the ministers present to take action immediately. Interior Minister Edlas immediately said, "Your Majesty is right. Our country's food reserves are indeed low. We did not pay enough attention to food reserves before, so
I think grain reserves must be increased, at least to one million tons."
Edlas' words did not attract the echo of other ministers, because they knew one problem, and that was money.
That's right, none of you here know what the kingdom's finances are like. If you want to reserve one million tons of grain as mentioned by the Minister of the Interior, you will need to spend about 80-90 million lire. Such a high cost can be achieved.
The biggest problem with food reserves.
Sure enough, His Excellency Tejela, the Minister of Finance who is in charge of the kingdom's financial power, stood up. "Your Excellency Edras, I completely agree with what you said. Increasing food reserves is indeed beneficial to our country's food security, but there is one problem.
That is the cost of purchasing food. At present,
, purchasing one million tons of grain, based on 60% wheat, 30% corn, and 10% other grains, will cost at least 80 million lire. Large-scale purchases will drive up grain prices, and more money will be spent.
So where is the money going to come from?”
Yes, Finance Minister Tejela is not opposed to national food reserves, but where will this money come from?
"Then how much food do you think should be stored?"
The Home Secretary regretted these words as soon as he said them, because this was not giving the initiative to the other party.
Sure enough, Tejela, the finance minister, immediately took over and said, "I think we can reserve 500,000 tons first, and it would be best to spend three years to ensure fiscal health."
Faced with Tejela's words, the ministers present also talked about it. It is indeed difficult to do this without money. The current domestic finance is already tight enough. This will cost another amount of food reserve funds, which will give anyone a headache. Fifty
Ten thousand tons is not bad. Calculated, it costs more than ten million lire per year, which is not too small.
Looking at the ministers sitting down, Carlo felt a flash of annoyance in his heart. Could it be that these ministers couldn't see the significance of food reserves to Italy? They were always obsessed with the issue of money.
In fact, Carlo has wronged these ministers a bit. Everyone is aware of the issue of food security, but the issue of importance still needs to be discussed. Because food reserves can only reduce food security risks, they cannot make this
Money generates profits. And according to Your Majesty, the food reserves will not be small, but the expenses will be huge. Not to mention that the Italian government's finances are not rich.
Carlo knew a little about the ministers' ideas, but he had to implement the food reserve, which was related to the future of Italy.
Because in more than ten years, a war affecting the entire world will break out. Italy, which originally needs to import a large amount of food, will really have no money to buy food by then, so the food reserve must start now. You see
This is the cognitive gap between the two.
Looking at countries that are not prepared for long-term war, Britain and France, with their superior navies, are able to purchase supplies from all over the world, but what about Italy?
Where can they buy supplies, especially grain? Eastern Europe, where they traditionally buy supplies, is at war. Even Russia doesn't have enough to eat and can still sell it to you.
Besides, Italy has not yet decided which side it will take, and must prepare for a rainy day.
Thinking of this, Carlo looked at the Prime Minister sitting there. Before the meeting, he had an angry relationship with the Prime Minister.
Seeing His Majesty's eyes looking at him, Antonio knew that he had to stand up at this time. "Uh-huh."
The Prime Minister is extraordinary. His cough attracted everyone's attention.
"Everyone, regarding the issue of grain reserves, I think the Finance Minister's words are one-sided. Insufficient money is not a problem. In fact, I think that one million tons of grain reserves cannot guarantee food security in our country. I think at least three hundred tons are needed.
Only with a grain reserve of 10,000 tons can our country initially establish a safe grain reserve."
Prime Minister Antonio's words surprised all the ministers present, because this requires at least 240 million lire, which is equivalent to 11.6% of Italy's total fiscal revenue last year. It is too much to spend so much money specifically for food reserves.
It’s not worth it. You have to know where this money can be invested and it will not bring better benefits to Italy. Why should it be invested in food reserves?
"Prime Minister, where should I use this money to purchase food?"
The chancellor raised the most worrying issue.
"I think we can issue a bond to raise funds to purchase grain and establish grain reserves. We can choose six or seven cities to build special grain reserve warehouses to ensure food security. It will take four to five years to complete the task of grain reserves."
Well, what the Prime Minister said left people speechless, issuing a debt to solve the problem of funding shortage.
After some troubles by the Italian government, Italy's total foreign debt has now been reduced to 5.64 billion lire. However, it seems that it is impossible to continue to reduce the scale of this foreign debt.
For Carlo, spending four to five years to reserve three million tons of grain is not bad. Of course, we can continue to increase the amount of food reserves. In Carlo's mind, it must at least satisfy the people of the country for this year.
After all, Italy's grain production is not high. How could we survive those difficult years if we didn't purchase some grain quickly?
Of course, when the Prime Minister comes forward to come up with a solution and the King expresses his support, the other ministers can only express their obedience. Then, regarding who will manage the food reserves, city selection, food renovation and other issues, the ministers present also have suggestions one after another.
.
The atmosphere at the scene became more and more lively under Carlo's gaze.
