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this is your first visit to AFRICABIZ
monthly on-line issue - The ultimate
newsletter on trading and investing in 48 sub-Saharan
African countries - I warmly welcome you.
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CONTINENTAL COVERAGE
With this issue, AFRICABIZ ONLINE achieved continental
coverage. A page of dynamic headlines on news and events
on North Africa had been added. It is available here.
A BONANZA TOOL FOR THE ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT OF A COUNTRY
A further discussion on Kenaf plantation as "economic
catalyst" for the sustained economic development
of an African country is available below
for your review.
Kenaf Industries' establishment is a tremendous
economic development opportunity for any country searching
for a performing and dynamic "tool" to boost
up its economy. Kenaf Industries' settlement will
help the country - which takes necessary steps to implement
it - establish a strong, powerful and high profit making
industrial base intertwined with a strong cash crop
agriculture.
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Many thanks for dropping by and see you here next month. Dr. B.M. Quenum Editor
of AFRICABIZ
Continuation:
A MULTI PURPOSE PLANT AS INCOME
BUILDING POWER FOR AN AFRICAN COMMUNITY:
KENAF
On
the promotion board of ISSUE N° 23 - Click
here for more - we made an introduction to
a "niche" operation based on A
MULTI PURPOSE PLANT: Kenaf which could
be used as "economic catalyst"
and launching
pad for the economic development of an African
country's regional territory. Issues N° 20;
21
and 22
consider other kinds of "niche" operations.
Agroindustrial development of Kenaf includes the following:
Livestock feed
Substitution for wood as raw material / pulp
for paper industry
Substitution for wood in building materials
Fiber for cloth, pets litter, oil absorbent,
carpet, tar-saturated roofing
Fertilizer and many more.
-
This month we are considering two of the above listed
economic aspects of Kenaf cultivation: Livestock
feed and Pulp / Paper industry.
As
shown on pictures available here
Kenaf grows quickly, into a forest of narrow poles -12
to 14 feet (3.7 to 4.6 meters) - and leaf-colored branches.
A kenaf's plantation produces a fiber similar to that
made from wood, but within a very short span of times
of 150 days - compared to minimum 5 to 10 years needed
for classical pine-trees and other wood species.
KENAF
PLANTATION'S YIELDS AND STALK COMPOSITION
Depending on which Kenaf specie / seed is planted average
recorded harvest yields in tropical areas are in the range
of 13 to 17.5 dry metric tons / ha (6 to 8 dry metric
tons / acre) of Kenaf stalks.
Kenaf stalk is composed of two kinds of fibers. The "bast"
which is the outer fiber and represents up to 40% of the
stalk dry weight. The "core" inner fiber which
accounts for up to 50% of the stalk dry weight. The up
to 10% balance representing fine particles / powder or
"fines" produced during the separation process
of the bast and the core.
Based on the yields above mentioned 1 ha of plantation
gives the following:
1- 5.20 to 7 metric tons of bast.
2- 6.50 to 8.75 metric tons of core
3- 1.3 to 1.75 metric tons of powder
/ fine particles.
a- Bast is a suitable
substitute raw material / pulp for newsprint
/ paper industry. Another possibility is biocomposites
are made from kenaf bast fiber and resins (polypropylene)
to form a panel, which can be molded, into interior
car parts, such as doors and headliners.
b- Core is good for cloth,
pets litter, oil absorbent, carpet, tar-saturated
roofing. For instance oil absorbent made from
Kenaf core has a high percentage of oil absorption
and is used to cleanse water polluted by petroleum
/ oil spills. There is a huge market worldwide
for such absorbent material.
c- Fines are used directly
as livestock feed or as blending component for
various kinds of animal feeds
The
fast growing potential of Kenaf represents an opportunity
to obtain wood-like fiber and establish high profit
making agro-industrial operations in regional territory
of African countries.
There are two tremendous markets available right now
for Kenaf based industries in Africa: 1- The
printing paper industry and 2- The animal breeding
/ feeding industry.
-1-
A pulp mill industry based on Kenaf stalks as
raw material to produce printing paper has a ready
market to service in all African regions. Something
in the range of 5,500,000 metric tons of printing
paper per year - globally - for the 48 sub-Saharan
African countries.
Indeed, apart from the Republic of South Africa,
none of the other 47 sub-Saharan African countries
features a pulp / paper mill industry. Which means
that huge quantities of printing paper are
imported year upon year by African countries.
-2-
Kenaf is also very suitable for tropical livestock
feed.
Herders used to walk thousand of kilometers -
with emaciated flock - from dried northern region
of most sub-Saharan African countries to the rainy
southern region; wandering through cultivated
areas (particularly in the Saharan region from
Senegal
/ Mauritania
in the West to Ethiopia
/ Kenya
in the Horn of Africa) in search for greener pastures.
Growing Kenaf in African countries will help
not only solving the recurrent bloody conflicts
between nomadic herders and sedentary farmers
but also establish a powerful livestock / meat
industry.
For the 48 sub-Saharan African countries, there
is (on a conservatory estimation basis of 300,000
metric tons per country) a market in the range
of 14,400,000 metric tons per year for animal
feed.
One can see that Kenaf is indeed a multipurpose
plant which can be used as an "economic catalyst"
/central operation for the economic development
of a country's region as here
exposed. It is a perfect "Income Building Power"
operation; labor intensive and foreign currency provider
or saver. Capable of generating the "Synergetic
Impact Factor"here
available
-
Interested parties (private international investors
/ companies, governments, regional authorities) may
contacteditor@africabiz.org
or Fax to BusinessAfrica:+1 347 534 9329for further consulting in
implementing KENAF INDUSTRIES.
.
-
-
This month we are considering two of the above listed
economic aspects of Kenaf cultivation: Livestock
feed and Pulp / Paper industry.
-1-
A pulp mill industry based on Kenaf stalks as
raw material to produce printing paper has a ready
market to service in all African regions. Something
in the range of 5,500,000 metric tons of printing
paper per year - globally - for the 48 sub-Saharan
African countries.
-
Interested parties (private international investors
/ companies, governments, regional authorities) may
contact 