Chapter 674 A Land of Plenty and Plenty
Constantine has not been idle recently. Of course, as he gets older, he spends more time traveling around East Africa.
Then we started from the first town, transferred to Dodoma City and headed north, passing 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.
The city of Kagera is a port city located on the shore of the Great Lake. Its name comes from the Kagera River, which is the mouth of the Kagera River (equivalent to the outlet to 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 in its previous life 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 reaches an astonishing 6,670 kilometers. Stabilize 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 there are many swampy wetlands and rivers. After more than ten years of management and the construction of national water conservancy projects, we With the general trend in mind, we have sorted out the river network in the lower reaches of the Kagera Basin, managed the swamps and wetlands, and planted rice and other crops extensively. More than 80% of the area is constructed with high-quality farmland, making the entire city of Kagera a veritable land of plenty in East Africa.”
In fact, the entire Great Lakes (Lake Victoria) basin would be essentially an indistinct area without the existence of Lake Victoria. The terrain of the basin is surrounded by the East African Rift Valley on the east and west sides, with high terrain and collapse in the middle.
Under this terrain, the water from the rivers on the left and right sides of the lake eventually converged into the 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, the 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, with rivers crisscrossing it, and the entire area is densely covered with vegetation. This is hard to see in other parts of East Africa, and it is first-class even in Europe. Great place,” Constantine praised.
This is also what he said sincerely. The rural areas of Kagera City are very different from the rural areas 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 cultivation situation in the two places. The crops in the eastern coastal plain are relatively diverse, with wheat, rice, various fruits and 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".
And the city of Kagera is even more beautiful in its scenery. In contrast, the eastern coastal plain has obvious savanna climate characteristics, so it looks very rough and warm. This is true in the coastal areas, Dar es Salaa It was particularly strong in the cities of Mu and Bagamoyo. Kagera City officials happily accepted Constantine's praise 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 our Agricultural development in Kagera City. Before this, the utilization rate of arable land in Kagera City was less than 30%. With the help of the construction of water conservancy projects across the country, the utilization rate of arable land in our city has reached 100%. More than seventy years ago.”
“Agricultural development in Kagera City is not easier than in other areas, so early agricultural development in the grassland area was much faster than in the Great Lakes area, especially in Kagera. Lashi, due to its terrain and rivers, has poor drainage and is dotted with swamps and wetlands over a large area, making early development 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 to improve most of the wetlands and turn them into rice fields suitable for farming.”< br>
“At the same time, in the context of the national water conservancy project construction, comprehensive management of large rivers and lakes in the territory will be carried out to enhance the ability of the lakes in the territory to regulate rivers and climate.”
“In this way , and also enhanced the traffic capacity of rivers, such as the Kagera River, which originally had a traffic capacity of less than 100 kilometers, currently reaching the level of 200 kilometers, all the way to the upstream city of Muyinga. At the same time, the Kagera River system has also become the most important transportation channel in Kagera City, and enters the Great Lakes (Victoria) in Kagera City. , via Great Lakes shipping, transiting Kisumu City, supplying the northern industrial belt, exporting from Mombasa City, or in Mwanza City comes ashore, turns Dodoma and finally merges into the central railway trunk line to support the food supply in the developed areas along the railway.”
In fact, there is also a railway connection from Mwanza City to Kagera City, which belongs to the railway line. It is part of the branch line from Dodoma to Bujumbura of the Central Railway, but 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 big agricultural city, and it is different from those important industrial towns in East Africa. Or compared to comprehensive cities, 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 food security in East Africa. , and grain exports contribute.”
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.”
It is difficult for a clever woman to make a living without rice. The future prospects of Kagera City will definitely be unclear if it only develops agriculture. A comprehensive city like Es Salaam is the goal 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 one, 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 found in Kagera City. The main agricultural tasks restrict its geological survey and other activities. After all, as a food production base in East Africa, its main task is still to grow food. center of gravity.
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 such conditions, and the task of developing industry cannot be allocated to Kagera City.
Therefore, the Kagera city government took advantage of this Constantine parade to proactively raise difficulties. The most important thing is to establish a set of agricultural and food processing industries in Kagera city.
(End of this chapter)< br>