African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 622: Somalia’s Fisheries Prospects

“In addition to tropical fruit and vegetable cultivation, Northern Province and Juba Province have more than 1,300 kilometers of coastline, and the development of our fishery resources accounts for less than one percent of the economy. This is a huge Waste, the development of fishery resources should be put on the agenda." Northern Province senior official Roman Kalin told the mayor of Mogadishu.

 Developing fishery resources in Somali waters has actually been something that Romain Carlin has never forgotten. Romain Carlin himself is from Monfalcone, a small coastal town in Austria, so he has a strong sense of belonging to the ocean.

Mogadishu Mayor Kranis also agrees with this point. Mogadishu is originally a comprehensive port in East Africa, and fishing is one of the important economic sources of Mogadishu. However, in recent years, Mogadishu has become a comprehensive port. More resources in Shagang are used on foreign trade ships.

“Mr. Senior Official, the development of fishery resources requires fishing boats and other necessary facilities. In this regard, Mogadishu’s shortcomings are very obvious, especially in terms of resources. We may not be naturally suitable for industrial development.” Kranis said.

Mogadishu's water source mainly depends on the Shabelle River, but most of the water from the Shabelle River is used for agricultural irrigation. Ernst did not intend to develop industry in Somalia from the beginning, and with the status of Northern Province as a border province, it is even less likely that East Africa will attach importance to it. Industrial construction is here, unless it is the agricultural product processing industry directly extended from agriculture.

In addition to insufficient water resources, other resources in Somalia are also relatively scarce. For example, the forest coverage rate only reaches about 15%, and it is mainly distributed in the mountainous part of Ethiopia at the border with Turkana Province, which is at a low level in East Africa. .

 It is now the end of the 19th century. In the first half of the 19th century, the world's ships were mainly driven by natural wind and manpower, and the shipbuilding materials were mainly wood.

Even now, the wooden shipbuilding industry still firmly occupies the dominant position in the shipbuilding industry. A large amount of steel is mostly used in warships or strong shipping companies, while the wooden shipbuilding industry is more concentrated on small and medium-sized ships, while Somalia’s forestry Resources obviously cannot support the development of traditional wooden shipbuilding industry.

As for the emerging shipbuilding industry, the Somali region is facing the problem of insufficient resources such as coal and iron. This is not to say that Somalia is short of minerals, but that it is not worthy of development by the East African government at this stage.

Many areas in Somalia are deserts, and mining development has always faced environmental problems. This is not to worry about damaging the environment, but to solve problems such as water shortages. The distribution of minerals will not be concentrated in the two rivers (Shabelle) like the population in Somalia. and Juba River).

Of course, the Somali coast can also learn from the experiences of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa and import iron ore or coal from the Middle East or India to develop industry, but this goes back to the previous policy restrictions on industrial development in Somalia. .

 So if the Somali region wants to solve the problem of industrial development, it can only focus on agriculture and develop the agricultural product processing industry and the food industry.

Agriculture also has great development value. For example, Argentina, which is currently economically prosperous, relies on agriculture and animal husbandry. With the support of British capital, Argentina's railways, industry, etc. have developed rapidly, and these are all based on agriculture. Pastoralism unfolds and serves.

In the late 19th century, with the surge in demand for wool in the international market and the development of freezing technology, Argentina's wool, beef, wheat and other agricultural products were exported to various parts of Europe and the United States. The export volume continued to rise, and Argentina became one of the world's major exporters of agricultural products.

In its previous life, Argentina relied on its strong agriculture. At the beginning of the 20th century, Argentina had become the world's seventh economic power and the fifth largest export power, and its wealth even surpassed that of the United States.

Under the influence of East Africa, Argentina has naturally not developed to the same scale as in its previous life. In terms of population alone, Argentina was the second largest immigrant destination in Europe after the United States in its previous life. With East Africa, Argentina has only Ranking third, from 1865 to 1880, the immigrant population was only close to half a million, mainly from Italy and other countries. As for the fact that more than 60% of German immigrants were included in East Africa during this period, this was mainly due to the inability of East Africa to absorb most of the immigrant population in the early days. The economic crisis of 1873 was a turning point, and East Africa officially replaced the United States as the world's largest destination for immigrants. country, of which German and Chinese immigrants contributed more than 60%.

  In other words, at least millions of immigrants in Argentina and the United States were intercepted by East Africa. Especially in the United States, at least more than two million potential German immigrants were absorbed by East Africa.

However, this does not affect the overall development of Argentina's economy. Argentina's economic development is based on its unique geographical conditions and it is a natural agricultural and animal husbandry power. Its railway development is not much worse than that of East Africa, at least in terms of density, it is ahead of East Africa.

Naturally, the conditions in Somalia cannot be compared with Argentina, but the irreplaceable location advantage is incomparable to Argentina. It belongs to the first echelon in the entire East Africa, that is, it is close to the main sea lanes of the two major world markets of Europe and Asia, regardless of whether there is The Suez Canal cannot bypass the Somali region.

"Juba Province and Northern Province have long coastlines and have world-class high-quality natural fisheries. Although they cannot be compared with the top world fisheries, aside from these fisheries, the coast of Somalia ranks firmly in the second echelon. The coast is rich in various fish, including tuna. , mackerel, anchovies, sardines, sharks and other resources are particularly rich. These are gifts from God to East Africa. Therefore, the development of fishery resources in Northern Province must be put on the agenda as soon as possible. Mogadishu, as the provincial capital and the first in Northern Province Large port cities should make more efforts to enrich local industries as much as possible," said Roman Carlin.

Kranis: "We in Mogadishu can only say that we are doing our best, but the main reason now is that there are too many restrictions, especially around the 'Eurasian Fruit Basket Plan'. There are too many tasks to be completed, and funds and other aspects cannot be effectively obtained. Assure."

Rollman Carlin: “You don’t have to worry too much about this. The provincial government is applying to the central government for a new round of investment promotion in Mogadishu. We will focus on negotiating with the Austrian government and organize Austrian businessmen to come to Mogadishu. Visit to Disha City.

However, the central government is still discussing this. The focus of the "Eurasian Fruit Basket Plan" this time is related infrastructure construction. I think the improvement in infrastructure level should be somewhat attractive to Austrian businessmen, so you should complete the infrastructure issues in an orderly manner first.

As the saying goes, opportunities come to those who are prepared. To forge iron, you need to be hardworking. Only when our northern province improves its hardware and services can others see our potential and invest with confidence.

Therefore, in addition to improving infrastructure construction, the Mogadishu government must put the construction of a harmonious business environment first and build confidence for investors who come to Mogadishu in the future. "

Since there is no money from the central government, the Northern Provincial Government can only find ways to introduce foreign investment. In this regard, the Northern Industrial Zone in East Africa and the three open ports on the coast have already set examples.

Austrian businessmen are particularly keen to invest in the three coastal cities of Dar es Salaam, Mombasa and New Hamburg Port, while Mogadishu was only eligible to open last year.

The rich fishery resources in Somali waters are an important bait for Mogadishu to attract foreign investment. This also involves business channel issues, which the Northern Provincial Government naturally cannot solve. This must be done by Austrian capital, which will expand relevant markets. The Northern Province's own market is too small to solve this problem. As for the domestic market, this also involves transportation issues.

Somalia's transportation mainly relies on two rivers and sea transportation, so it is distributed horizontally and is not directly connected to the vast inland areas of East Africa. It cannot compete with Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, and New Hamburg Port. .

 (End of this chapter)