African Entrepreneurship Records

  Chapter 279 Somali Banana

  The occupation of the right bank of the Kuango River by the West Route Army also means the end of the third war of conquest in East Africa. The current state of East Africa can be regarded as full.

  Complete the goal militarily, and the affairs of East Africa have also shifted from war to national development. Now East Africa has to digest the results of this war, and at the same time prepare to deal with the future world situation.

  At present, France is popularized in Europe, and Italy and Austria are still at war. Between France and France, Ernst, who has read the script, already knows the ending, mainly because Italy does not know how it will change.

   October 3, 1870.

   Hohenzollernburg.

  Ernst was looking at the geographical data of Somalia collected in his hand under the electric light. He used a pencil to tinker with the map of East Africa next to it. The main areas of East Africa in Somalia are Northern Province and Juba Province.

  Northern Province and Juba Province are planned development areas. Ernst positioned the two provinces to vigorously develop economic crop planting and animal husbandry.

In fact, Somalia is not a pure desert country. There are 15% of its land area forests and grasslands of a considerable area, especially the two provinces in East Africa. partial area.

  As for the cultivation of food crops, it is still handed over to other regions. Somalia’s arable land resources are relatively scarce in East Africa, and so are water sources, so it is still cost-effective to grow cash crops.

The first is to increase the planting of frankincense and myrrh. These two things are not worrying about sales. Somalia is rich in spices in history, and now it is also the main production area of ​​frankincense and myrrh in the world, so it is also called "the land of spices." , frankincense and myrrh are local fist products, and the output accounts for more than half of the world.

  Then there is animal husbandry. The most important product of Somali animal husbandry is mainly camels. In the previous life, Somalia had the largest number of camels in the world, and then cattle and sheep. East Africa has little demand for camels, but they can be sold to North Africa and the Middle East.

  Frankincense and myrrh planting, camel breeding are considered to be Somalia's dominant traditional industries, and on this basis, Ernst intends to make Somalia a cotton planting base and a banana planting base in East Africa.

  Speaking of, the banana planting industry is definitely a new field. There are many banana trees on the land of East Africa, but the large-scale planting has not been formed, and there is no commercialization. It is the fruit of ordinary East African residents.

  In the previous life, the bananas produced in Somalia tasted very good, and tasted like vanilla cream. They were known as "the sweetest bananas in the world", and Somalia also won the reputation of "Banana Kingdom".

  The banana planting industry in Somalia is basically blank now. In the previous life, banana planting in Somalia started in the Italian colonial period in the 1920s. On the fertile land in southern Somalia, the Italians built more than 200 banana plantations.

The banana planting industry in Italy has been very successful, and bananas have quickly become one of the staple foods of the Somalis. They can be eaten with rice or pasta, or as a pre-meal fruit. From the eating habits of the Somalis, we can see that the Italian Profound impact on banana farming in Somalia.

Later, when the warlords in Somalia got their brains out, they would give priority to robbing banana plantations, so the banana industry is very important to Somalia. Of course, those Somali warlords have no chance to rob banana plantations. Now the Northern Province and Juba Province in East Africa Not a single native in sight.

Thinking of this, Ernst said: "Tom, go and contact European agricultural experts, preferably those who are good at banana planting technology. Ask if anyone is willing to develop in East Africa, and find more professional banana planting experts." We need data to support the economic development of Somalia."

   "Yes, Your Highness! But I have a question, isn't Somalia a desert? It is suitable for growing bananas there?" Tom asked curiously.

"It's a desert climate, but it's not all desert. There are oases in the Egyptian desert! And I don't need to say how fertile the banks of the Nile River are. Although the Shabelle and Juba Rivers in Somalia are not as good as the Nile River, they are not much worse. Both can provide irrigation water sources for both sides of the strait, as long as there are water source deserts, it is a trivial matter.”

   "So that's the case. However, Your Highness, why do you have to grow bananas in Somalia? There aren't many of them in other parts of East Africa?" Tom asked a little strangely.

Bananas are very common in Africa, especially in the Great Lakes region, which is very suitable for growing bananas. In previous documentaries, Africans used bicycles to transport bananas, which is the country in the Great Lakes region. For example, the "national meal" of Uganda is banana rice, and the "national drink" Wala and It is also a drink made from bananas. The famous Odebiao is a banana transporter in Burundi. Bananas are the staple food of many Africans, so Odebiao’s bicycles are not pulling fruits, but life.

"The bananas in those places are good, but they can't compare with Somalia in terms of distance. We want to target the European market. The transportation of products is a big problem, especially for melon and fruit agricultural products such as bananas. Somalia's location is very good, because Suez The reason for the opening of the canal is that it is close to Europe and there are ports that can be used directly.” Ernst explained.

Afgooye, the main banana producing area in Somalia, is only more than 30 kilometers away from Mogadishu, and the port of Mogadishu is very convenient to the Middle East and Europe, especially in terms of distance compared with Southeast Asia and America, which produce similar products. With the help of this location advantage, as long as bananas are planted, it will be difficult not to make a fortune.

  Africa has a long history of growing bananas, and it is also the only region that can compete with Southeast Asia and the Americas in banana planting.

   "Now, I heard that Americans also want to grow bananas in Latin America, so we will concentrate on doing business in Europe and the Middle East." Ernst said.

The banana planting industry in the United States also started at this time period, but Americans planted it on islands in Latin America and the Caribbean, not in the United States, and East Africa planted it on their own land. If slaves were not used, it would certainly not be possible. Like the Americans, it makes people complain.

"In terms of cost, our banana production in East Africa may be slightly higher than that in the United States. However, if bananas are a tropical crop that is generally exported, storage and transportation are the biggest problems. Compared with Americans, the entire Middle East and European markets are to the United States. We are open."

  At this time Tom asked: "Your Highness, listen to what you said, planting bananas in Somalia does have its advantages, but European banana imports can also be imported from West Africa! Spain, Britain, and France are all like this."

   "Hehehe, of course I know this, but that is the Atlantic coast, but Europe is big, especially Central Europe, Eastern Europe, the Ottoman Empire, Tsarist Russia, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire are all our markets." Ernst said.

  Especially Tsarist Russia, a country in the frigid zone, lacks tropical products the most. In fact, India is quite close to Tsarist Russia, but the problem is that the heart of Tsarist Russia is in Eastern Europe, and East Africa has more transportation advantages to reach Tsarist Russian ports through the Black Sea with the help of the Suez Canal.

  (end of this chapter)