African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 674 A land of plenty

Constantine has not been idle recently. Of course, as he gets older, he spends more time traveling around East Africa.

 Then we set off from the first town, transferred to Dodoma City and headed north, passed through Mwanza, and finally arrived in Western Great Lakes Province.

The Western Great Lakes Provincial Government is in Bujumbura, on the southwest side of the Western Great Lakes Province, so this time it was officials from the Kagera Municipal Government who greeted Constantine.

 Kagera City is a port city located on the shore of the Great Lake. Its name comes from the Kagera River, which is the entrance to the lake (equivalent to the outlet of the sea).

The Kagera River, which flows into Lake Victoria, is about 400 kilometers long and is the largest water source of Lake Victoria. The Kagera River is formed by the confluence of two tributaries, the north and the south. It extends from Burundi to Tanzania and then flows into Lake Victoria.

 Kagera is the water source of the Great Lake (Lake Victoria). Kagera is also the source of the Nile River. With the Kagera River, the entire Nile River reaches an astonishing more than 6,670 kilometers, stabilizing one end of the Amazon River.

As an important granary in East Africa, Western Great Lakes Province is also a key area for water conservancy project construction. The Kagera Basin is one of the key areas for improvement.

"The upper reaches of the Kagera River pass through mountainous areas, and the lower reaches are the Kagera Basin. The terrain is relatively flat, but the swampy wetlands and rivers have been sorted out after more than ten years of management and the general trend of water conservancy project construction across the country. The river network in the lower reaches of the Kagera Basin is managed and managed at the same time, swamps and wetlands are managed, rice and other crops are widely planted, and more than 80% of the city-wide standard and high-quality farmland is built, making the entire city of Kagera a veritable land of fish and rice in East Africa."

 In fact, if Lake Victoria did not exist, the entire Great Lakes (Lake Victoria) basin would essentially be an obscure basin terrain, surrounded by the East African Rift Valley on the east and west sides, with high terrain and a collapse in the middle.

Under this terrain, the water from the rivers on the left and right sides of the big lake will eventually converge into the big lake, forming a huge lake basin. The only gap is the Owen Falls on the north side, and the downstream is the White Nile.

 With sufficient water resources, food production in the Kagera Basin ranks among the best in East Africa.

"The farmland here looks very regular, and it is all paddy fields. The rivers are crisscrossing the area, and the vegetation is dense throughout. This is hard to see in other parts of East Africa. Even in Europe, it is a first-class place." Constant. Din praised.

This is also what he said sincerely. The rural areas of Kagera City are very different from those on the eastern coast. Although the conditions of the eastern coastal plain are also very favorable, the amount of water is obviously not as abundant as that of the Great Lake (Lake Victoria) basin.

 This can be seen from the crop planting situation in the two places. The crops in the eastern coastal plain are relatively diverse, with wheat, rice, various fruits, vegetables, sisal, etc. all grown.

The crops in Kagera City seem a bit monotonous. The large rice fields and windmills look very similar to those of European countries such as the Netherlands from a distance. However, the Netherlands also has high-quality pastures, while Kagera City mainly relies on rice cultivation. Coupled with the dense network of rivers, it is indeed appropriate to describe Kagera City as a "land of plenty".

Moreover, the city of Kagera is even more beautiful in its scenery. In contrast, the eastern coastal plain has obvious savannah climate characteristics, so it looks very rough and warm. This is true in the coastal areas, Dar es Salaam and Bagamo. About is particularly strong. Kagera City officials happily accepted Constantine's compliment because Kagera City, as an important region in ensuring food security in East Africa, has indeed made outstanding contributions.

“Your Majesty, Kagera City’s achievements today are inseparable from the strong support and correct guidance of the central government. For example, the construction of national water conservancy projects has greatly accelerated the agricultural development of our Kagera City. Before that, The utilization rate of arable land in Kagera City is less than 30%. With the great help of the construction of water conservancy projects across the country, the utilization rate of arable land in our city has reached more than 70%."

“Agricultural development in Kagera City is not easier than in other areas, so early agricultural development in the grassland areas was much faster than in the Great Lakes District. In the Great Lakes District, especially in our city of Kagera, due to terrain and rivers, drainage is difficult. There are swamps and wetlands scattered over a large area, so early development can be said to be very difficult.”

"Later, with the theoretical support of technical staff, we managed the wetlands in the entire area, dredged the water systems in the swamp areas, opened up channels for the wetland water to flow into the Great Lake (Lake Victoria), or built volleyball channels, windmills, etc. Measures have been taken to improve most of the wetlands and turn them into rice fields suitable for farming."

“At the same time, in the context of national water conservancy project construction, comprehensive management of large rivers and lakes in the territory will be carried out to enhance the ability of lakes within the territory to regulate rivers and climate.”

“In this way, the traffic capacity of the river is also enhanced. For example, the Kagera River, which originally had a capacity of less than 100 kilometers, can now reach the level of 200 kilometers, all the way to the upstream city of Muyinga. At the same time, the Kagera River The water system has also become the most important transportation channel in Kagera City. It enters the Great Lakes (Victoria) in Kagera City, ships through the Great Lakes, transfers to Kisumu City, supplies the northern industrial belt, and exports from Mombasa City, or Disembarked in the city of Mwanza, the turnover Dodoma finally merges into the central railway trunk line to support food supply in developed areas along the railway line.”

 In fact, there is also a railway connection from Mwanza City to Kagera City, which is part of the Dodoma-Bujumbura branch line of the Central Railway. However, rail transportation is ultimately worse than water transportation.

After listening to the words of the Kagera Municipal Government, Constantine probably also understood the development of Kagera City over the years. He said: "Kagera City is a large agricultural city. Compared with those industrial towns or comprehensive cities in East Africa, , there are indeed some gaps. After all, this is the era of industrialization, but industry is based on the development of agriculture. As a port city, Kagera City should give full play to its advantages to ensure East African food security and food exports. Make a contribution.”

Officials from Kagera City assured: "Your Majesty, we will definitely live up to expectations. However, as grain production increases year by year, our shortcomings are also very obvious, that is, the shortage of grain processing machines and related factories. Most of the grain is harvested. From now on, they can only be transported to Mwanza City and Kisumu City for processing.”

ˆ It is difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice. The future prospects of Kagera City will definitely be unclear if it only develops agriculture. Comprehensive cities like Mombasa and Dar es Salaam are the goals of almost all cities in East Africa.

Of course, the Kagera Municipal Government is also relatively self-aware. When it comes to a port, Kagera City does have it, but this port is only a port on the Great Lakes, not a seaport, and its value is greatly reduced.

Then there are resources. So far, no special resources have been discovered in Kagera City. The main agricultural tasks limit its geological survey and other activities. After all, as a food production base in East Africa, its main task is to focus on food cultivation.

As for resources, other regions in East Africa, especially the three central provinces, are very rich, but the Great Lakes region obviously does not have this condition, and the task of developing industry cannot be assigned to Kagera City.

So the Kagera Municipal Government took advantage of this Constantine parade to take the initiative to raise difficulties. The most important thing is to establish a set of agricultural-related food processing industries in Kagera City.

 (End of this chapter)