Chapter 674: Land of Fish and Rice
Constantine has not been idle recently. Of course, as he gets older, he has more energy to travel around East Africa.
Then we set out from the first town, changed trains in Dodoma and headed north, passing Mwanza, and finally arrived in Western Great Lakes Province.
The Western Great Lakes Provincial Government is in Bujumbura, in the southwestern part of Western Great Lakes Province, so Constantine was greeted by officials from the Kagera Municipal Government.
Kagera City is a port city located on the shore of a large lake. Its name comes from the Kagera River, which is the mouth of the Kagera River into the lake (equivalent to the sea outlet).
The Kagera River, which flows into Lake Victoria, is about 400 kilometers long and is the largest source of water for Lake Victoria. The Kagera River is formed by the confluence of two tributaries from the north and south. It extends from Burundi to Tanzania and then flows into Lake Victoria.
Kagera is the source of water for the Great Lake (Lake Victoria). It is also the source of the Nile River. With the Kagera River, the entire Nile River reaches an astonishing length of more than 6,670 kilometers, which is significantly shorter than the Amazon River.
Western Great Lakes Province is an important granary in East Africa and a key area for water conservancy project construction. The Kagera Basin is one of the key areas for remediation.
"The upper reaches of the Kagera River pass through mountainous areas, while the lower reaches are the Kagera Basin, which is relatively flat but has many swamps and rivers. After more than a decade of management, and with the national trend of water conservancy project construction, we have sorted out the river network in the lower reaches of the Kagera Basin. At the same time, we have managed the swamps and wetlands, and widely planted rice and other crops. More than 80% of the city's farmland is high-quality and standard, making the entire Kagera City 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 inconspicuous 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 both sides of the lake eventually converges 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 ample water resources, food production in the Kagera Basin ranks among the highest in East Africa.
"The farmlands here look very neat and tidy, and they are all paddy fields, with crisscrossing rivers and dense vegetation throughout the area. This is something that is hard to find in other areas of East Africa. Even in Europe, it would be a first-class place," Constantine praised.
This is also his true feelings. The rural areas of Kagera City are very different from the rural areas of the eastern coastal areas. Although the conditions in the eastern coastal plains are also very good, the water volume is obviously not as abundant as that in the Great Lakes (Lake Victoria) basin.
This can be seen from the crop planting conditions in the two places. The crops in the eastern coastal plains are more diverse, including wheat, rice, various fruits and vegetables, sisal, etc.
The crops in Kagera City seem a bit monotonous, with large tracts of rice fields and windmills. If viewed from a distance, they are very similar to those in European countries such as the Netherlands. The only difference is that the Netherlands also has high-quality pastures, while Kagera City mainly relies on rice cultivation. Coupled with the dense river network, it is indeed very appropriate to describe Kagera City as a "land of fish and rice."
Moreover, Kagera City is more beautiful in scenery. In comparison, the eastern coastal plains have obvious tropical savanna climate characteristics, so it appears to be rough and warm. This is particularly strong in the coastal areas, Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo.
The officials of Kagera City gladly accepted Constantine's praise, because as an important area to ensure food security in East Africa, Kagera City 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 this, the utilization rate of arable land in Kagera City was less than 30%. With the great help of the national water conservancy project construction, the utilization rate of arable land in our city has reached more than 70%.”
"Agricultural development in Kagera is not easier than in other areas, so agricultural development in the grasslands was much faster than in the Great Lakes region in the early days. In the Great Lakes region, especially in Kagera, drainage is poor due to the terrain and rivers, and there are large areas of swamps and wetlands. Early development was very difficult."
"Later, with the theoretical support of technicians, we managed the wetlands in the entire region, dredged the water system in the swamp area, opened up channels for the wetland water to flow into the big lake (Lake Victoria), or built volleyball channels and windmills to improve most of the wetlands and turn them into rice fields suitable for farming."
"At the same time, under the background of national water conservancy project construction, comprehensive management of large rivers and lakes in the country will be carried out to enhance the regulating capacity of lakes in the country on rivers and climate."
"This will also enhance the river's navigability. For example, the Kagera River, which originally had a navigable capacity of less than 100 kilometers, can now reach 200 kilometers, all the way to Muyinga City upstream. At the same time, the Kagera River system has become the most important transportation channel for our Kagera City. It enters the Great Lake (Victoria) in Kagera City, passes through the Great Lakes, transits to Kisumu City, supplies the northern industrial belt, exports from Mombasa City, or lands in Mwanza City, passes through Dodoma and finally merges into the central railway trunk line, supporting the food supply of the development areas along the railway."
In fact, there is also a railway connection from Mwanza to Kagera, which is part of the central railway's Dodoma to Bujumbura branch line, but rail transportation is ultimately inferior to water transportation.
After listening to the Kagera City Government, Constantine probably understood the development of Kagera City over the years. He said: "Kagera City is a major agricultural city. Compared with those industrial towns or comprehensive cities in East Africa, there is indeed some gap. After all, this is an era of industrialization, but industry is built on the basis of agricultural development. As a port city, Kagera City should give full play to its advantages and contribute to ensuring food security and food exports in East Africa."
The Kagera official assured: "Your Majesty, we will definitely live up to your expectations. However, as food production increases year by year, our shortcomings are also very obvious. That is, there is a shortage of food processing machines and related factories. Most of the food can only be transported to Mwanza and Kisumu for processing after the harvest."
A good cook cannot cook without rice. If Kagera City only develops agriculture, its future prospects will certainly be uncertain. However, comprehensive cities like Mombasa and Dar es Salaam are the goal of almost all cities in East Africa.
Of course, the Kagera Municipal Government is also quite self-aware. As for a port, Kagera City does have one, but this port is only a large lake port, not a seaport, so its value is greatly reduced.
Then there are resources. So far, no special resources have been found in Kagera City. The main reason is that agricultural tasks limit its geological survey and other activities. After all, as a food production base in East Africa, its main task is still to focus on food planting.
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 assigned to Kagera City.
Therefore, the Kagera Municipal Government took the opportunity of Constantine's tour to proactively raise difficulties, the most important of which was to establish a food processing industry in Kagera City related to agriculture.
(End of this chapter)
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