Chapter 650 Cow Dung Economy

Port of Mombasa.

The dock workers looked at the cargo being loaded onto the ship in surprise, trying to breathe as little as possible. Some even covered their noses and said, "This year is really strange! Cow dung can be exported? What is such a big ship used for exclusively carrying cow dung?"

"Cow dung is a good thing, but I've never seen so much cow dung transported by boat. Mombasa has never shipped cow dung out in previous years."

"I heard that these ships are from the Northern Province and Juba Province. Isn't that a desert? Why are they pulling so much cow dung over there as fuel?"

"It's possible. There's nothing in the desert, like no trees or grass. So what do they use to start a fire and cook?"

"Don't talk nonsense. I asked the brothers on the boat and they said that the cow dung is fermented fertilizer and was brought to the north to be applied to the land. The agricultural experts there said that the cow dung can be used to grow fruits and vegetables."

Workers at the port of Mombasa were talking about it, not because they had a special liking for cow dung, but because the smell was really strong and the contrast with the usual goods being transported was too stark.

As for the fuel issue, it is indeed quite scarce in the Northern Province and Juba Province. However, there is no need to import cow dung from other places to use it as fuel. Local camel dung and wood cut from the west are the main sources of fuel for the two provinces.

Ancient Arabs were accustomed to using camel dung to make fire and cook. This tradition was still preserved in many Arab regions in the 19th century, and the two Somali provinces under the rule of East Africa naturally retained this custom.

In addition to the 15 percent of forests in the traditional area, the Somali region of East Africa also includes large tracts of forest in the southeastern mountains of the Ethiopian Plateau. There are also some wheat fields in the basins of the two rivers (Juba River and Shabelle River), and the wheat straw after the harvest is also a good fuel.

It is not just the workers at the Port of Mombasa who feel novel. People in the northern pastoral areas are also interested in this year's cow dung market. In previous years, cow dung was a hot commodity, and many southern provinces imported it from the northern pastoral areas. However, with the addition of Juba Province and Northern Province this year, the already in short supply cow dung production capacity in the northern pastoral areas has become even tighter.

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Melti Ranch, Oriental Province.

Agricultural technician Li Ersen explained to the ranch workers: "Raw cow dung is easy to breed bacteria, so ranches that do not carefully handle cow dung often have cow dung affecting the breeding population.

At the same time, since cow dung can generate heat, it will consume the oxygen content in the soil, causing root and seedling burns, which also has a negative impact on the growth of grass in the pasture.

Furthermore, feces can also spread parasites and pathogenic microorganisms. Therefore, pastures that do not handle cow dung will be harmed by parasites and even cause the ranch breeding population to be infected with diseases. ”

"Therefore, the disposal of cow dung in the northern pastures of East Africa is a major ecological problem. If it is not properly resolved, it will not only damage the environment, but more importantly, it will affect the development of the entire East African livestock industry."

Li Ersen is not exaggerating. The number of livestock on the northern pastures of East Africa has a significant impact on the northern pasture area every year.

This was most noticeable ten years ago. A large ranch might produce tens of thousands of tons of manure every year, and there were hundreds of such large ranches in northern East Africa at the time. The odor emitted and the damage to the grassland were visible to the naked eye. Now the situation is much better. The East African government has effectively utilized and managed cow dung.

Li Ersen continued, "Last year, our Melti Ranch alone produced a total of 30,000 tons of cow dung, 80% of which was transported to southern plantations and grain-producing areas for soil improvement.

Cow dung helps to improve soil structure and increase its water retention capacity. In East Africa, many lands are severely compacted. In addition to improving soil fertility, the most important thing about fermented cow dung is that it makes the soil more fluffy, which is also an important advantage of cow dung as a fertilizer. ”

"As far as we know, Somalia recently plans to import large quantities of cow dung from the Eastern Province pastoral areas to increase the production of fruits, vegetables and flowers."

"So one of our important tasks is to thoroughly handle the cow dung. Cow dung must be fermented before it can be used as fertilizer. If fresh cow dung is used in the field, the heat released during fermentation may harm the plants and may introduce pathogens into the soil. Therefore, fermentation must be complete to kill the insect eggs and microorganisms in the cow dung."

Now large ranches in East Africa have allocated special land for the storage and fermentation of cow dung. Most of these lands are of the type where no grass grows, so there is no need to worry about damaging the grassland.

Some small ranches do not have this condition, so the local government will designate areas for small ranches to send the manure for treatment.

Despite the shortage of cow dung, large ranches like Melty Ranch still reserve a portion of it, mainly for making fuel.

At present, in many parts of Europe, fuel has been moving towards coal, especially in the UK.

In the 18th century, Britain's coal production was already five times the total of the rest of the world's coal production. Even so, the British at that time still felt that the speed of coal mining was too slow.

Against this background, the British invented the first "steam engine" and soon applied it to coal mining.

Before coal, the main fuel for the British was firewood, so large-scale deforestation was required. In addition to being used for cooking and heating, wood was also critical to other manufacturing areas, including houses, household appliances, farm tools, containers, and, crucially, ships. The British Navy reacted very strongly. They were worried that the forest crisis would seriously affect the development of the naval fleet, so Britain completely enforced the law to replace firewood with coal.

Many areas in East Africa also face fuel problems, and the demand for timber for warships and ships is also objective.

The northern pastoral areas are more vulnerable to fuel shortages than the southern regions of East Africa. The area is dominated by grasslands, with relatively sparse forests and no large tracts of farmland.

In other rural areas of East Africa, wheat straw, rice stalks, and corn stalks are used together with firewood. Even in Somalia, there is grain agriculture, so the fuel problem is relatively easy to solve.

The northern pastures are mainly based on animal husbandry, and the grasslands are relatively short of fuel. After all, grassland vegetation is not as easy to harvest as forest vegetation and use as fuel.

The benefits of cow dung as fuel are reflected. Of course, the cow dung in the northern pasture area is definitely not dried and then burned directly like the Indians do.

Instead, it is crushed into powder and then added with coal ash to make cow dung honeycomb briquettes. Cow dung honeycomb briquettes burn better than ordinary honeycomb briquettes, mainly because they produce less smoke.

Because the coal of the northern ranches mainly relies on the coal mines of the northern industry, and the quality of the coal mines in the northern industrial belt is very poor, which will cause a lot of losses when burning. After adding cow dung powder, it can burn more fully. Moreover, this cow dung honeycomb coal is also suitable for industrial production, so it has become an important industry in the northern ranches and also supplies surrounding cities, such as Nairobi and Mombasa.

In addition to these, cow dung can also be used to produce other animal feed for raising pigs, chickens, fish, etc.

Therefore, the cow dung economy has become an important part of the East African economy, and has a significant impact on the environment, energy, production, and life in East Africa. Overall, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

(End of this chapter)