In addition to these, there is another thing that Cao Mo is sure can be done now, that is, the scale is a bit small and the income is not big. If you want to have big development, it will take a long time, and it will not be as immediate as taking over a gold mine.
That is vegetable cultivation.
It has been nearly two years since I arrived in Draculamore. The common local vegetables are only a few limited varieties such as kale, nightshade, and tomatoes. The cucumbers, celery, green vegetables, Chinese cabbage, and green peppers that Cao Mo is used to eating at home are rare.
And few.
After arriving in Draculamore, Cao Mo felt quite reluctant to adapt to the local food.
Of course, after he moved to Ibogu Village permanently, he felt even more miserable.
Every Chinese in Draculamore feels this way.
After taking over the Yibogu gold mine, the first thing Cao Mo did without hesitation was to open a three-acre vegetable garden near his temporary residence and asked Jiaying to mail some vegetable seeds from Xinhai City.
Based on the information I searched online, I tried to plant it.
Without these vegetables, how could he teach Stena and the others how to cook Chinese food at the mine?
The climate in Kanem is hot, and the new land reclaimed from the jungle on the upper reaches of the Lukaku River is also extremely fertile. It is the rainy season, and most vegetables have a short growing season. Almost all of them can be picked and eaten now. Just to supply the mine, Cao Mo also
Work is already underway to expand vegetable cultivation.
The two times he went back to Draculamore, he brought some vegetables back for Song Yuqing and the others to try. When he entered the community, he was stopped by many Chinese compatriots who asked him where he bought and sold these vegetables. They looked extremely greedy.
.
Kanem has a large amount of arable land, which is used by local chiefs and large landowners such as descendants of colonists to cultivate palm, cocoa and other cash crops.
This has made Kanem the world's leading palm oil and cocoa planting base, but it has also caused an extreme shortage of staple food and vegetable cultivation in the entire country; most civilians have difficulty making ends meet and are chronically malnourished.
As the largest seaport city in West Africa, Draculamore relies heavily on imports for its food supply.
Fresh food supermarkets in the Aral Lake and Ikoyi Island areas catering to wealthy people also have a small supply of vegetables such as tomatoes, but the prices are extremely expensive, seven or eight times higher than in China.
Cao Mo thought to himself, no matter how high the price of vegetables in Dracula Mo was, if he only relied on the ten or twenty acres of vegetable gardens he had opened in the mining area at this time, he would not be able to make much income in a year. It was really not worth it.
How much energy does he spend paying attention?
However, this is not the only land in Iboko Village that can be used to grow vegetables.
He also considered that the employment in the mining area was limited after all, and it was impossible to benefit most villagers in the Yibogu tribe. However, he wanted to establish a long-term foothold in the Yibogu tribe, and the situation in front of him was not a favorable one.
Vegetable planting, and even larger-scale staple food planting will be considered later. From a profit perspective, it may not be as good as spending all your energy and limited funds on exploring the potential of gold mines, but after all, it can benefit more Yibogu and even nearby tribes.
of villagers.
Of course, he had previously opened a vegetable garden in the mining area, growing vegetables for his own consumption, and occasionally adding meals to the workers. The field should be fatter and thinner, and the vegetables grown sparsely and densely. As long as there was a harvest, it would be fine, but it would require a large area in Yibogu Village.
The vegetable plot cannot be so casual.
Fortunately, China has many aid projects in Kanem, and agriculture has been the mainstream of aid projects to Africa over the years.
There is a Chinese Consulate in Dracula Mo, as well as a China Business Center that specifically serves Chinese businessmen and Chinese enterprises investing in Canem. Cao Mo directly told Lucy his thoughts:
"After you get this place in order, in the name of the company, go to the consulate and the China Business Center to consult to see if there are any relevant agricultural technical experts in Draculamo or nearby areas. The company wants to contract vegetable fields in Yibogu Village, maybe
Can get technical guidance..."
"You really want to stay in Africa and become a chief. If you are not satisfied with managing a gold mine, you want to grow vegetables?" Song Yuqing asked strangely, "No matter how you can make money by growing vegetables, it can still be compared to digging for gold."
mine?"
Cao Mo deliberately reduced the gold exchange with Xie Sipeng, but he still needed to exchange additional U.S. dollars from Xie Sipeng every month for reserve for the next purchase of equipment.
Even though Cao Mo has repeatedly emphasized that he is currently mainly providing equipment and technical services to the Felician family, since he borrowed 200,000 US dollars from Xie Sipeng and promised to pay it back within two years, Xie Sipeng and others concluded that after he added equipment,
, the annual income in Yibogu must be six to seven hundred thousand yuan.
How much money can you make growing vegetables?
"Although we have rented out new equipment to the mine and can earn three to five million yuan a year, we may still earn less from growing vegetables..." Cao Mo scratched his forehead, opened his eyes and lied to Song Yuqing, "You also know that you need to
How expensive is it to have a plate of spicy stir-fried pork or other Chinese food at Dracula Mo?”
"The problem is, no matter how high the price of vegetables is, the effect you want will not be achieved if the planting scale is small. But if the planting scale is large, who are you selling to in Draculamore?"
"Have you not noticed that there are more and more Chinese in Draculamore?" Cao Mo asked.
"No matter how many Chinese there are, there will be more in the future, but most of them are still ordinary employees employed by Chinese businessmen and companies. Who among them is willing to eat your eighty-nine yuan a pound of tomatoes every day? At most, they can improve their appetite occasionally..." Song
Yuqing sighed with emotion.
She has been to Draculamore for more than half a year, and every time Cao Mo goes back to Draculamore, he brings back some vegetables so that he can have one or two Chinese meals.
When she went to the West Africa branch, her income seemed to be much higher, but with a monthly salary of 12,300 yuan, it was heartbreaking to see that a vegetable in a high-end supermarket on Xianhu Island cost ten yuan in RMB.
At present, the Chinese community in Draculamo has reached a certain scale, but whether it is Chinese businessmen or the management of Chinese-funded enterprises, they are only a minority. Most of them are employees brought over by Chinese businessmen and Chinese-owned enterprises. Basically, all Chinese businessmen or companies provide accommodation and food.
The supply is naturally based on local high-quality and low-priced crops.
Song Yuqing doubted whether there would be enough market if Cao Mo organized the villagers of the Yibogu tribe to develop large-scale farms to grow vegetables.
"The situation in Kanem has become more and more stable in the past two years, and more and more Chinese people are coming out. The demand for food is always increasing. There is another reason. Sister Yuqing, you haven't seen it said on the Internet that Chinese food
It’s not just Chinese people who are attracted around the world. There are already several Chinese restaurants in the West Bund District, and there will be several more, maybe a dozen more, in the future. The scale will get bigger and bigger. They will definitely have to rely on Chinese food to attract locals...
"Cao Mo said.
"That's true." Song Yuqing thought about what Cao Mo said and praised him, "You are still very smart. Why didn't you notice it before?"
"That must be because we didn't communicate enough before," Cao Mo said jokingly.
Probably because she had heard too many ambiguous and obscene jokes, Song Yuqing glanced at Cao Mo, changed the subject and said, "How about I also invest in your vegetable garden? I don't want any shares or dividends, as long as I can eat it regularly.
Just go to Chinese food - these days, tapioca and bean rice make me want to vomit!"
Seeing Lucy looking over in embarrassment, Song Yuqing knew that she had worked harder to learn Chinese these days, so she must have thought she was complaining about her cooking skills, so she hurriedly said: "It's not that your cooking skills are not good. Mr. Cao taught you
The Chinese dishes here are too ordinary. If you have the opportunity to actually eat Chinese food, you will know what I mean. I can’t say it anymore. When I talk about it, I think of the white chopped chicken that I like to eat, pickled and fresh, and my mouth water.
It’s almost leaking out…”
"That's alright. I don't need any money from you, Sister Yuqing. If you want to eat some food, I can still collect money from you, Sister Yuqing," Cao Mo said. "By the way, you still have his, Zhou Jianmin from the consulate."
Contact information?"
Zhou Jianmin is a staff member of the Chinese Consulate in Draculamore.
On the first day Song Yuqing arrived at Draculamore, Cao Mo and Kabuga drove to the airport to pick her up, but the car broke down halfway. Zhou Jianmin happened to drive someone to the airport that day. Looking at Cao Mo, Song Yuqing stopped at the airport to pick her up.
Since the sun was not enough, we drove them back to their residence in advance.
Zhou Jianmin later came over to have dinner with him twice with great enthusiasm, and everyone was considered acquainted with each other. However, after learning that Song Yuqing was married, Zhou Jianmin never appeared again, and Cao Mo did not have his contact information.
Cao Mo thought about contacting the agricultural experts who were aiding Africa. Zhou Jianmin would definitely be able to help. He didn't have time to go to the consulate, but it might be better if he could call Zhou Jianmin first and then ask Lucy to go to him to consult with the agricultural experts.
"If you want me to help you contact Zhou Jianmin, just say so..." Song Yuqing glanced at Cao Mo angrily and said.
"..."
Seeing that Song Yuqing had misunderstood and thought that he wanted to take advantage of Zhou Jianmin's good impression of her to facilitate this, Cao Mo was in a daze.
Although he knew that beautiful women have a natural advantage in public relations, he was not old enough to take advantage of it calmly. He explained with some embarrassment: "Sister Yuqing, just tell me Zhou Jianmin's phone number.
…”
"Okay," Song Yuqing couldn't help but take over the matter and said, "I will help you with this, but if I can help, then I will be so embarrassed that I will eat your food in vain!"
"Okay then..." Cao Mo thought that Song Yuqing's contact with Zhou Jianmin and him contacting Zhou Jianmin really had no effect, so he agreed hesitantly.
"Why are you getting up again?" Song Yuqing asked curiously.
"It's nothing, I'm just afraid of troubling you..."
"It's no trouble at all. It just so happens that the branch usually doesn't have much to do, so I can still pass the time if I have something to do..."