Chapter 287 Progress
Guo Yang already had some general ideas about the fruit plantation in Matadi.

Bananas, pineapples, papayas, mangoes, avocados... these are the main tropical fruits in the world trade market.

Among them, bananas occupy an absolute market share.

However, the competition is also extremely fierce.

The countries with the greatest market advantage are Latin America and the Caribbean, followed by Southeast Asia.

Although many African countries regard bananas as one of their staple foods, their share in the world market is very low in terms of yield, total output and exports.

And bananas can be put into production very quickly.

Taking advantage of Matadi's hot and humid climate, the first harvest can begin 10 months after the seedlings are planted.

It is undoubtedly one of the varieties with the fastest return on investment.

The current market share of organic bananas is not high, but the potential is huge, especially at the beginning of the new century, when the United States, the European Community, and island countries promulgated their own organic certification standards.

Watch hands vary from country to country, and quality and safety standards are very strict, making fair trade very difficult.

But it also brings opportunities.

'Organic' is a concept of production process rather than the product itself.

Jiahe’s fruit production base in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is targeting Europe and the United States as its primary markets, which are also the largest import markets for tropical fruits and organic products.

Producers, exporters and importers must accept certification from relevant certification bodies in accordance with EU procedures.

Among them, the prevention and control of pests and diseases and the use of pesticides are extremely relevant.

Tropical fruits are prone to diseases and pests, especially bananas, which have at least 15 common diseases and pests.

The use of chemical pesticides is quite severe.

It is extremely important to use EU-approved biogenic pesticides such as tea bran powder, pyrethrins, rotenone, nicotine, allicin, and azadirachtin.

At the same time, it is also necessary to combine biological, agricultural, physical and other comprehensive prevention and control methods.

Jiahe’s Ligusticum wallichii and Ligusticum wallichii also need to be certified as soon as possible and gain international recognition, which will be another new and important supplement.

Not only bananas, but other tropical fruits of Jiahe will also be committed to organic cultivation.

Guo Yang was lying on the bed, but his thoughts had already drifted back to China.

The group has also accumulated some experience in organic certification.

For example, Hexi Dairy’s milk and milk powder products have passed domestic organic certification and are currently seeking foreign certification.

There is also an organic soybean planting base in cooperation with Jiusan Grain and Oil, and the soybean base in Northeast China has also passed the international organic certification

These can all provide some support for organic certification of orchards in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Perhaps the group should set up a special department to focus on the agricultural product import policies of major consumer countries in the world to avoid duplicative operations among its subsidiaries.

Guo Yang kept this in mind.

Attention quickly returned to the seed shops.

Botanical pesticides can only solve part of the problem; the rest depends on the breeding of disease- and pest-resistant, high-yield varieties.

There are five kinds of tropical fruits, covering 2.5 hectares, with an average area of ​​7.5 mu for each kind.

and 200 million acres of oil palm.

Guo Yang has also decided on the varieties.

The remaining four types of grains are corn, cassava, wheat and rice, which need further consideration.

Guo Yang slowly fell asleep.

The next morning, Guo Yang took the lead in calling Yu Qin to discuss matters related to pyrethrum. There is a related industry in Yunnan in China.

Quanwang needs to develop pyrethroid products.

Guo Yang then contacted Ning Xiaojing and explained the matters concerning organic product certification.

In addition, a new department should be established to focus on non-tariff barriers in major importing countries, study response strategies, and facilitate the entry of various products into the fiercely competitive international market.

After finishing all this, it was still early, so Guo Yang browsed the international news for a while.

What a coincidence, I saw a report about bioenergy.

Some analysts say that in 2006, the United States invested 4200 million tons of corn in ethanol production.

Based on the global average food consumption level, this amount is enough to meet the food consumption of 1.35 million people for a whole year.

There really is more hype than ever!

At the same time, we also saw domestic customs statistics, which showed that my country's corn and wheat exports have increased significantly in the past two months.

Media such as Grain and Oil Market News and Seed Weekly have also published some analyses.

"The domestic corn consumption market has strong demand, the field of corn deep processing is becoming wider and wider, and the demand for feed is also high."

"The area planted with cash crops is growing rapidly, and the phenomenon of farmland being converted to non-grain crops is serious, threatening domestic food security."

"The cost of grain production is higher than the international level, but domestic grain prices have gradually become more similar to the international market, so farmers are not very motivated to grow grain."

"Northeast farmers have a surplus of grain, but there is no market for it..."

The domestic public opinion environment remains the same, emphasizing food security, but the increase in food prices is far less than that abroad.

Take corn as an example. In more than a year, the international market price has risen from 98 US dollars per ton to 187 US dollars per ton, while the domestic corn price has only risen from 0.48 yuan per catty to 0.72 yuan per catty.
The gap between the two is getting smaller and smaller.

In addition, the country has not yet cancelled the grain export tax rebate policy, and exports will only increase in the future.

Guo Yang thought about what he had tentatively said to Minister Lin yesterday about "cooperating in public opinion".

Although the Lin Department drove him out.

But in fact, the policy stability on grain has also been stabilized, and we are just waiting for the fish to take the bait in the second half of next year or the beginning of next year.

There are other factors to consider, such as the increase in global grain production in 2007…

Jiahe wants to make something happen in Africa, but the promotion of good varieties is not that simple, and a matching planting model is also required.

Considering the climate conditions in the past two years, Guo Yang believes that the possibility of a reduction in production is even greater.

After learning about the developments, Guo Yang wanted to try whether he could log in to Huinong.com, but at this time Luo Xiu, Yu Honghai and others had finished washing up, so they went to have breakfast together.

"Would you like to spend a few days in Nairobi?" Yu Hong said while chewing bread on the beach. "There are quite a lot of attractions here."

Guo Yang thought for a moment and said, "Wait and see. If I can follow Lin Bu to other East African countries for inspection, this trip will not be in vain."

Kenya alone has given him so many surprises, and there must be a lot of potential to be tapped in other countries.

"Then should we follow them?" Yu Honghai asked.

"I'll follow the boss." Luo Xiu said.

Guo Yang said: "Lao Yu and Yetu can stay in Nairobi for a few more days, or go to Dar es Salaam."

“Is Dar es Salaam so hot these past two days?”

"you've been to?"

“Fongkai has a dealer there.”

Dar es Salaam is the former capital of Tanzania and a famous port city in East Africa. Guo Yang was not too surprised.

Yu Honghai continued: "In addition to Dar es Salaam, there are also Fonkai dealers or offices in Cape Town, Cairo, Lagos, Algiers, etc."

Guo Yang nodded. East Africa, South Africa, North Africa, West Africa, and the East China Sea coast basically cover the African continent.

It's just too scattered.

"We are still short of people!" Guo Yang stared at Yu Honghai and said, "You have to hurry up and recruit people, especially from Congo (DRC). You can transfer a group from China, but most of them still need to be localized."

"It's too difficult." Yu Honghai said, "I can only go to the University of Lubumbashi to have a look."

"Well, think of more solutions from school."

“There’s also the issue of safety.”

"I plan to start a security company."

"This... this costs a lot of money." Yu Honghai was a little surprised. Money earned in agriculture is hard-earned money. Even mining companies do not invest much in security.

“Money is not an issue.”

If it was just for money, Guo Yang might not even consider coming to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Wouldn't it be better to go to a safer country?
Yu Honghai pondered for a moment and said, "Recruiting people is also a problem. Luo Xiu, do you have so many comrades?"

"No."

Hare also said: "And many veterans have restrictions on going abroad. They must meet certain time requirements."

Guo Yang smiled and said, "There are so many retired soldiers in the country, we can always recruit people. Luo Xiu, does your former security company have any training tasks?"

"Have."

Guo Yang thought for a moment and said, "Then you should discuss this matter first to see if there is any possibility of cooperation. It would be best if you can invest in it."

"it is good."

"As soon as possible, send someone over early."

While chatting, they quickly ate breakfast. When they were about to leave, Secretary Lin came over.

"Boss Guo, Department Lin asked you to go with us for the inspection."

"Hey, I've been waiting for you."

During this trip, we visited Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan... except for unstable countries such as Djibouti and Somalia, we almost covered the entire East Africa.

This also gave Guo Yang a comprehensive understanding of agriculture in these areas.

Poverty is the main theme.

The staple foods are corn, cassava and potatoes, but the yield per unit area is also pitifully low.

In addition to the low level of agricultural production technology, factors such as land degradation, poor soil, serious pests and diseases, lack of fertilizers, and drought have plagued this area all year round.

But it is also because of this that the crop yields in this area have the potential to increase by 2 to 3 times.

This provides investment opportunities in seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, agricultural equipment, etc.

In addition, the governments of Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and other countries are gradually relaxing their investment policies and have formulated many preferential policies on land and taxation.

A market that is full of challenges but also has huge opportunities.

It is also a key area for the implementation of future national strategies, and experts supporting Africa have arrived here one after another.

To some extent, East African countries and my country's northwest inland areas are similar in that they both face water resource problems.

The difference is that East African countries actually have abundant water resources, with numerous inland lakes scattered all over the country, but the utilization rate is extremely low, less than 5%.

There are also distinct dry and rainy seasons.

This has led to difficulties in agricultural development here.

However, many cultivation techniques in the northwest of China can be adapted to the conditions in East Africa with only minor adjustments.

This is the advantage of Golden Harvest.

Tianhe's technical service personnel can quickly adapt to the agricultural environment here. "How is it? It's worth the trip!" Lin Bu looked at Guo Yang with a smile.

"I have gained a lot of knowledge by following the leader."

"You have seen the superstructure of agriculture in East Africa, others have investigated the grassroots situation in the countryside, and the rest depends on Jiahe itself."

"Don't worry, leader."

Guo Yang is full of confidence.

The inspection lasted for more than ten days, and the grain from Jiahe Grain and Oil will soon arrive in Matadi.

After saying goodbye to Lin’s troops, Guo Yang and his party went straight back to Matadi.

This is the largest port in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and is accessible to 10,000-ton ocean-going vessels. However, due to the presence of waterfalls in the river upstream of the port, ocean-going vessels cannot reach Kinshasa directly.

When Guo Yang and others arrived at the port.

A ship with a striking "COSCO" sign has docked at the berth.

Bulk carrier from China Ocean Shipping Group.

It was loaded with more than 5 tons of corn, as well as some small machinery and spare parts, and Tianhe seeds.

There are warehouses in the port, and this batch of corn will be stored in the port first.

Forty thousand tons were used in exchange for licenses for 13.5 hectares of land from the Congolese government.

Another ten thousand tons were exchanged for logs provided by Chief Eddie.

Chen Yanqiu is a Singaporean and currently serves as the International Grain Trade Director of Jiahe Grain and Oil. She is fluent in English, Spanish and French.

He had 15 years of working experience at Cargill, one of the top four grain traders, rising from a grain analyst to a department manager.

He was recently poached by Golden Harvest with a high salary.

Guo Yang was deeply impressed by him.

This was Jiahe Grain and Oil’s first grain trade, and it also involved timber imports, so Chen Yanqiu followed in person.

Guo Yang looked at the huge ocean-going transport ship and asked curiously:
"Fuel prices have gone up, so freight rates have gone up too, right?"

"No." Chen Yanqiu shook his head and said, "The freight rate has dropped a bit compared to the previous two years."

"Oh?" Guo Yang became interested. Jiahe would inevitably have to deal with warehousing and logistics in the future. "Tell me in detail."

Chen Yanqiu thought for a while.

"2004 was a rare peak period for the international shipping industry. Countries all invested in the shipping market, new ships were in short supply, and prices of all kinds of ships soared."

"However, with the end of the shipbuilding cycle in 06, market competition has intensified, with companies undercutting each other on price and scrambling for supply..."

Guo Yang instantly thought of the financial crisis, and the shipping industry would definitely be bleak in the next two years.

"Do you know anything about ocean shipping?"

"Learn something. Cargill has business in this area."

Guo Yang realized belatedly: "Oh, Cargill seems to have the world's largest grain storage and logistics."

"Yes, they now have more than 500 ocean-going grain ships, and the scale of their land transport fleet should also be second to none in the world." Chen Yanqiu said in surprise: "Is Jiahe also going to enter the shipping industry?"

"It depends on whether there are suitable targets for acquisition or cooperation." Guo Yang was also very frank.

Cargill started out as a grain storage business, and its huge transportation capacity and complete logistics network are its core competitiveness.

In this round of financial crisis, Cargill's trade in bulk commodities such as food, oil and coal will bring it huge profits.

"Well... there will definitely be opportunities in the next two years." Chen Yanqiu smiled, with a hint of growth, "It just so happens that the company can make a lot of money from this."

"Hahaha... Director Chen really understands!"

"This is a major trend, unless the world's food production increases significantly."

“As expected of a food analyst!”

While unloading the grain, Guo Yang and his companions went to check out the timber at the port.

Chief Eddie owned a sawmill in Matadi and had a stockpile of logs.

These days, another batch of precious timber is being transported from Equatoria Province via rivers, railways and roads.

They are all top quality rosewood.

Due to the speculation of Hainan Huanghuali wood, some old materials are priced at 1.8 to 2.2 yuan per catty, equivalent to tens of millions of yuan per ton.

African rosewood is relatively cheap, but it still costs hundreds of thousands of yuan per ton when shipped to China.

This is a sure win business!
In addition to the rosewood that he exchanged for grain, Chen Yanqiu also quickly purchased some logs through local government connections. The ocean-going ship returned only after it was fully loaded.

However, Chief Eddie's 1 tons of corn were not so easy to transport.

Guo Yang could only lead his team to quickly complete the land and food transaction with the Congolese government.

Matadi has the largest flour mill in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Compared to Chief Eddi, most of the government's corn will be processed into flour and then sold.

After the government's corn is shipped out of the warehouse, Jiahe will store a separate batch and hand the rest directly over to Eddie.

Guo Yang's gaze returned to the land.

The first step is to build the organizational framework. The three projects can be divided into at least 20 to 30 plantations, or even more.

The person in charge of each project is the director and technical person in charge of the plantation. Each plantation is also equipped with technicians, finance...

In the early stage, at least two to three hundred people need to be recruited from China.

The remaining plantation managers, as well as other middle-level and grassroots management positions, are all localized.

Both domestic recruitment and localization process will be extremely difficult.

During the meeting.

Guo Yang said to everyone: "We can assign numbers, and start building a plantation when a team arrives."

Apart from the team, the rest are large agricultural machinery and construction machinery, park roads, drainage ditches, land leveling, and ditches.

In this regard, we need Fengkai Agricultural Machinery and Donghe Agricultural Machinery services, but Yu Honghai is familiar with this sector.

The remaining focus is on seeds and seedlings.

In this area, Tianhe Seed Industry takes the lead and cooperates with the Institute of Tropical Science and the Dryland Farming Center to establish factory-based seedling production plants, fruit tree nurseries and breeding bases for tissue culture of bananas, oil palm and other fruit trees.

This is the only construction work that can be carried out at present.

A desolate wilderness covered with weeds.

Thatched houses were built on the flat ground, and several new houses shaped like loaves of bread were erected on the flat ground.

The 'bakery' is only 15 square meters and very simple, but for the newly recruited black employees, having a house is good enough.

Only black administrators have this treatment.

Not far from the house is wasteland that is being reclaimed. However, the land is severely waterlogged, overgrown with weeds, and uneven, and the efficiency of reclamation by illegal workers who only have simple tools is extremely low.

In some towns and rural areas near Matadi and Kinshasa, Jiahe also sent special personnel to purchase oil palm, wild banana and other fruits.

Experts Li Yi and Deng Mingke have also been running around during this period.

When Guo Yang saw the two again, he only saw their dark faces, rough skin, and scars all over their bodies left by mosquito bites.

Almost didn't recognize it.

Seeing this scene, Guo Yang couldn't bear it, and he made the matter a little complicated.

They immediately returned to the two newly rented seed warehouses in Kinshasa and Matadi and cultivated all kinds of seeds.

Banana, pineapple, mango, avocado, papaya;

corn, cassava, rice, wheat;
Oil palm.

There are 10 varieties in total.

Now that there is more natural energy, Guo Yang is not stingy in this regard and has cultivated some competitive varieties.

Consumed 1523 natural energy.

The highest were banana and oil palm, which consumed 311 and 336 points respectively.

Bananas mainly highlight their quality and resistance to diseases and pests, and mainly impact the high-end organic agricultural product market.

Oil palm focuses on palm oil yield and biodiesel conversion, while also taking into account some resistance characteristics.

The same logic applies to other varieties.

Tropical fruits focus on quality;

Grain crops focus on yield and adaptability, all of which are large varieties, with the main goal of being bright in both directions.

In addition to these, existing domestic vegetable and grain varieties will also be tested in Africa.

After all the seeds were cultivated, Guo Yang directly brought back Li Yi and Deng Mingke who were still investigating farms and visiting tree farmers in various places.

Both of them have been tanned recently.

Guo Yang said, "Deng Lao Le, you are the chief expert of the industrial system hired by Jiahe. What should we do if something goes wrong?"

"It's not that fragile yet." Deng Mingke waved his hand. "The most urgent thing now is to prepare the seeds. Once the tissue culture factory and nursery are built, we can start."

“The seeds have been shipped from the country.”

“What about oil palm and fruit trees?”

"All."

Seeing that the two men didn't believe it, Guo Yang didn't say much and directly took them to the warehouse.

Deng Mingke and Li Yi were both stunned when they saw the seeds classified into different categories.

"Didn't we agree to cultivate it ourselves?"

"It's just walking on two legs." Guo Yang smiled and said, "These seeds are not good enough."

Deng Mingke said, "Then it's up to Xiao Li to take care of it. Large-scale breeding technology for embryo seedlings is his specialty."

"Oh? How many seedlings can be produced in a year?"

"One production line can produce 100 million oil palm seedlings," Li Yi said. "But in the Democratic Republic of Congo, there is a lack of people, equipment and materials, so the investment may be a bit high."

"I'll figure it out."

Guo Yang pondered for a while and said, "How about this, I'm going back to China soon. Please prepare a detailed list of what you need and send it to me later."

"Mr. Guo is going back to China?"

"Well, the situation has been opened up now. There are still a lot of things to do in the country, so we have to go back quickly." Guo Yang said.

"Okay then, let's try to get the list out today."

"Ok."

(End of this chapter)