Chapter 1106 Open Market
Looking back at the past, any capable country would work hard on agricultural technology. For example, in the past, the United States was not only the country that used the most pesticides and fertilizers in the world, but also used more than 40% of genetically modified technology in agriculture, and the breeding industry was the hardest hit by the use of various drugs.
Therefore, East Africa will naturally consolidate its advantages in the field of agriculture. In addition to mechanization, various related agricultural technologies are the focus of East Africa's current efforts.
This makes East Africa the world's third largest agricultural research and development center after Europe and the United States. As the only tropical power in the world, East Africa's focus on agricultural research is very different from that of Europe and the United States.
Take staple food as an example. European and American countries will definitely tend to study temperate agricultural products such as wheat, while East Africa focuses on (sub)tropical agricultural products such as rice.
Andre said to He Bo and others: "Before hybrid rice technology is fully mature, as long as we do our job well, we will definitely be able to open up new growth points for East African agriculture in the future."
"I am most interested in the drought-resistant characteristics of lepidium rice. Among the major rice-growing countries in the world, East Africa belongs to a region with relatively low precipitation. Although my country has greatly improved its agricultural irrigation conditions through large-scale water conservancy projects, some areas are destined not to be solved by water conservancy construction alone."
"For example, the natural climate with low precipitation west of Dodoma City cannot be changed by human power. If we can cultivate relatively drought-resistant rice varieties through hybrid technology, it can greatly improve the agricultural planting conditions in arid or semi-arid areas of my country."
As Professor Andre explained, He Bo and other members of the Luanda Agricultural Research Institute also realized the significance of their current work.
In the final analysis, East Africa's natural agricultural endowment is the best in the entire African continent, but if you want to close the gap with Europe and the United States, it still depends on the level of technology.
Andre said to them earnestly: "Nowadays, the industrial and scientific development of our country is extremely fast, and the knowledge is updated and iterated quickly, so you have a lot of new knowledge to learn, so you should pay more attention to relevant research at home and abroad, so that you can go further in the future."
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Harare City.
With the implementation of the Third Five-Year Plan, Harare City, the most developed heavy industrial city in East Africa, is quietly changing.
As for Mbeya, the original heavy industrial center of East Africa, it has begun to transform as early as the 1990s. Now it has become one of the research and development and academic exchange centers in East Africa. With the change of industrial investment structure, Mbeya City has completely become a comprehensive city similar to Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, with almost no shortcomings.
Harare City, the most important heavy industrial city in East Africa, is now also facing the pressure of transformation. As the development of light industry has become a national key strategy, cities like Harare City, which are seriously biased in science, have obviously become the focus of East Africa's economic transformation.
In 1911, the first step of Harare City's reform was to start with the liberalization of some light industrial investment areas.
It is worth noting that East Africa, as a planned economy country, does not mean that there is not much difference between the rich and the poor in East Africa. In order to control national resources, East Africa has a very high compensation for those who have made contributions in East Africa.
These people include government officials, scientific research workers, soldiers, retirees, martyr families, nobles, etc.
In the past, East Africa mainly compensated these people through high allowances and social benefits, such as various forms of subsidies, stable sources of wages, distribution of material rewards, etc.
So this group of people actually controls a considerable amount of social wealth, but in the past East Africa almost monopolized most of the means of production, and their wealth could not be spread to the social level in the form of investment. Now East Africa has begun to experimentally open some investment markets, which provides them with opportunities.
Not only that, in addition to the "nobles" in East Africa, ordinary people in East Africa actually have a lot of accumulation. The wage level in East Africa is not low worldwide. As long as they are careful in calculations, many families generally have a certain amount of savings.
According to the announcement of the Harare City Government on September 2, 1911, this gave many people an opportunity.
According to the announcement, Harare will relax investment restrictions on more than 100 industries such as catering, accommodation, and garment manufacturing, allowing private individuals to participate in the industrial business activities on the announcement list.
Berlin State Hotel in Harare.
"Anka, do you really want to quit your job and start a business? You know, your skills are not very good. If you are not welcomed by the market, you will lose your job and you will not have a stable salary."
In the kitchen of Berlin State Hotel, Prus Wang said to his apprentice Anka.
Anka: "Master, I still want to try it. Although it is said that the state-owned restaurant is guaranteed to make money, I believe that as long as I can provide better service, I will be able to quickly open up the catering market."
The catering industry in East Africa is just like the Soviet Union or the Far East Empire in the special period of the previous life. It is a very strange existence. Due to policy restrictions, there was almost no private catering business in East Africa before.
This leads to a lack of competition in the catering industry in East Africa. Various state-owned hotels or restaurants have extremely poor service attitudes and perfunctory food quality, but ordinary East Africans have no extra choices at all.
Now that the city of Harare has relaxed investment restrictions on the catering industry, Anka sees this as his opportunity. Due to his many years of work, Anka was not optimistic about his future in a state-owned hotel.
As his master, Prus Wang, said, he was not very skilled and was not outstanding among the apprentices that Prus Wang had taught, but ordinary people's pursuit of taste was not that high.
Anka's ability to work in the Berlin State-owned Hotel also proved that Anka had a good foundation in cooking. After all, the Berlin State-owned Hotel was one of only ten restaurants in Harare. Those who could work in the kitchens of these state-owned restaurants were much better than ordinary people, even if their skills were poor.
And many years of work experience also gave Anka a clear understanding of the poor service attitude of the catering industry in East Africa. Anka believed that this was a breakthrough point. If he could use service and price as the main selling points, he would definitely be able to gain a foothold in the market. As for the poor taste of the food, many people did not have the ability to identify it.
Pruss Wang: "Okay! Since you have made up your mind, I won't persuade you. If I were ten years younger, maybe I would have the same enterprising spirit as you young people."
Anka said to his master: "Thank you for your understanding."
Then Pruss Wang asked: "Since you have decided to open your own shop, do you have enough money? Many materials in the market are still scarce. Even the simplest tables, chairs and benches may need to be purchased through special channels."
Anka replied: "I naturally have some concerns about this, but now that the economy has been liberalized, many carpenters have chosen to return to their old jobs. An old carpenter near my home plans to open a carpentry shop. I can get goods from him. As for funds, I have saved a little over the years, which should be enough to support the preliminary preparations."
Pruss Wang nodded and said: "Very good, if you really need money, you can tell me. Your master has saved a lot over the years. Even if you encounter some troubles, I can help you solve them."
As the chef of Berlin Hotel, Pruss Wang's salary is relatively high, and he also knows many dignitaries in Harare.
Anka was somewhat touched by the master's concern. He said, "Master, don't worry. I know what to do. If I really encounter a problem that I can't solve, I guess I can only shamelessly come to you for help!"
Prus Wang said to Anka, "What nonsense are you talking about? There is an old saying in my hometown that a teacher is a father for life. You are my apprentice, so it is natural for me to take care of you. However, I also hope that after you go out to start a business, you will not forget your original intention. It would be even better if you can continue to promote our Huai cuisine in Harare."