Chapter 644 Tailor-made

Ernst has always valued such vast and sparsely populated areas, because they also mean greater plasticity. However, Luzon is the core of the Philippines and an area that Spain has long integrated, so Ernst is not interested.

Of course, the villain still has to be the Americans. Although East Africa has its intentions towards the Philippines, it will not delay the friendly relations between the two countries at all.

Just like this visit, Ernst put Spain last, which represented attention, and Alfonso XII also enjoyed this feeling of being respected.

Spain is still a well-known world power, but like Portugal, its national fortunes have been declining, but it is much better than Portugal. After all, its local area is large enough, and it has the foundation of a great power in Europe.

…

Northern Province.

In order for the "Eurasian Fruit Basket Plan" to be carried out smoothly, the governments of Northern Province and Juba Province must join forces for coordinated development, improve regional productivity, and release the industrial advantages of the two provinces, so the two parties held negotiations in Mogadishu.

“In Somalia, we have obvious advantages in developing an export-oriented agricultural economy, but we also face greater risks. Among them, the greatest threat to agriculture is the threat of desert locusts, and our Northern Province and Juba Province is also an important source of locusts.

Therefore, in order to ensure the healthy development of regional agriculture and ensure stable fiscal revenue, we must work hard to control locusts. This is not only the responsibility of our Northern Province, but also has important connections with Juba Province. "

“Desert locusts are the most important agricultural hazard in Somalia. Our two provinces agree on this. Locust plagues occur every year, but the scale is within controllable limits, except for the last time when the northern region of Somalia spread into our country. "

"So to deal with this cross-border crime species, we must establish an effective monitoring and prevention mechanism, and at the same time set up a unified management and control agency in the two provinces to conduct regular inspections of the breeding situation of desert locusts. Once problems are discovered, dangerous situations should be reported at any time. Nip it in the bud.”

Desert locusts are widely distributed in northeastern East Africa, the northern coast of Somalia, the Red Sea coast, and the Arabian Peninsula.

The only thing that East Africa can effectively manage is the desert migratory locust in East Africa. Of course, East Africa happens to be the main activity area of ​​the desert migratory locust. Otherwise, East Africa would not bother to control the desert migratory locust at all.

It would be a waste of energy to control it here and then fly over from next door. Desert locusts in the Arabian Peninsula mainly like to fly eastward, and the rest will cross the Red Sea to East Africa. However, in this way, their energy will also be wasted. After spending most of it, East Africa can minimize the risk by taking some defensive measures.

"Both provinces are in the Somali region, and it is difficult for the two pest control centers to handle things, because the border area between Northern Province and Juba Province is so long. If we shirk responsibility from each other, locusts will breed on a large scale on the provincial border, which will end up being the worst. It drags everyone down, so agriculture-related agencies in the two provinces should communicate more and establish smooth channels for information exchange, or go one step further and work together."

This matter has been settled in this way. Anyway, it is within their respective powers, so they are not afraid of causing trouble.

“There is also the issue of cash crops in our Somali region. The two most popular crops in Somalia are bananas and cotton. Although these two crops have high economic value, retaining only these two crops is risky and does not meet the requirements. The definition of the 'Eurasian Fruit Basket Plan' is a fruit basket, a fruit basket, if the basket only contains bananas, then it becomes the 'Eurasian Banana Plan'." said the director of the Juba Provincial Department of Agriculture.

“I also agree with this. Single crops have the worst resistance to pests and diseases. Once they occur, it may cause irreparable losses. Enriching fruits, vegetables, flowers and other categories is one of our plans for Somalia. "The director of the Northern Province Agriculture Department was not to be outdone.

Of course, this is not enough. After all, this seems to be a bit misleading, so he further proposed: "We in East Africa have a big disadvantage in this regard, especially in terms of selective breeding and species categories. After all, East Africa has a too short history and lacks relevant information." There are agricultural talents, so it is difficult to achieve results in a short period of time, and we should also learn more from local experience and lessons."

As he said that, he took out a gray bullshit machine from his pocket. It didn't look very good and put it on the table.

"Director Antonio, what is this?"

"This is a local agricultural crop. You may not have noticed this gadget. It is a plant that the local indigenous people like very much, called oil sedge."

"Is this the fruit of the oil sedge?"

"To be precise, it's a fruit that grows underground like peanuts."

"Then what's the use of it?"

"In addition to eating, the most important thing is that it can be used to extract oil. The leaves of this plant can also be used as pasture." Antonio said.

Then he began to introduce the advantages of oil sedge: "As an oil crop, it not only has high quality and high yield, but also has high comprehensive utilization value. More importantly, it is very suitable for surviving in saline-alkali land, which is similar to many places in Somalia. Similarly, it has good stress resistance, strong ability to resist external adverse factors, is resistant to salt and alkali, has few pests and diseases, requires less fertilizers and pesticides, and has high yield. The yield per mu can reach hundreds of kilograms, and the minimum is no less than 300 kilograms. The yield of oilseed bean per mu is equivalent to several acres of other oil crops.”

The oil production rate of oil sedge is quite average, but its high yield per mu makes oil sedge more economically valuable.

"Of course, I want to emphasize that this crop is very resistant to pests and diseases, and the fruits grow underground, so there will be no harvest in the face of a locust plague."

Oil sedge emits a special chemical substance with a refreshing fragrance, which actually has an insect repellent effect. Naturally, this is not clear in East Africa, but the indigenous people here have thousands of years of cultivation experience, so it is not possible to draw this conclusion. Disaster.

"If that's the case, why haven't we seen locals planting it on a large scale before?" someone asked.

Antonio replied: "Have you ever seen large-scale farming in Africa before us? Especially in livestock areas like Somalia, other lands are mostly dominated by wheat and other grains."

But the conversation changed and Antonio also said: "Oil sedge has many advantages, but it is not without its shortcomings. For example, compared with other crops, its fruits are not easy to harvest. This plant has particularly strong tillering power, and its fruits are relatively Peanuts are a bit smaller and are more troublesome to harvest. However, we don’t have to worry about planting this crop in the two provinces of Somalia. The soil in Somalia is mainly sandy soil and the soil is relatively soft. I have discussed it with the craftsmen in Mogadishu. Designing a tool specifically for mining this crop will greatly increase efficiency."

There is another point that Antonio did not mention, that is, the fruits of oil sedge are more difficult to dehydrate than other oil crops and require a long period of sunlight drying. However, if this problem occurs in other areas, it is indeed easy to cause the fruits of oil sedge to deteriorate.

However, Somalia has less precipitation, more sunny days, and a dry climate, so there is no such problem. In addition, oil sedge requires less chemical fertilizers, has high yield, and good oil quality. It can be regarded as an oil crop tailor-made for the Somali region.