AFRICABIZ VOL 2 - ISSUE: 107
March 15 - April 14, 2008
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Editor: Dr. Bienvenu-Magloire Quenum
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A WORD FROM THE EDITOR

Dear visitor and international investor,

We warmly welcome you, if this is your first visit to Africabiz Online - The ultimate newsletter on trading and investing in 49 sub-Saharan African countries. If you are a regular and faithful reader, welcome back.

- FOR LACK OF PROPER DEVELOPING STRATEGY, DARK CLOUDS ARE GATHERING OVER AFRICA

All over Africa, the shopping basket is empty . The cost of living is on constant rise, fueled by skyrocketing oil price, while salaries had been blocked to already very low levels [in most African countries, up to 70% of workers earn about EURO50 per month] since at least 15 years - thanks to the macroeconomics equilibrium policy advocated by the World Bank and the FMI since the 1980s.

Consequently, people cannot afford anymore buying common staples such as cooking oil, cattle beef, fish, sugar, milk, eggs, corn and other cereals which prices are daily escalating: up to 60% increase for 1kg of maize, up to 43% for millet in West African countries during the past 6 months. Not to forget the rising cost of cooking energy (butane cylinder). And currently in most African countries, South Africa included, people are having a meal per day if not one every two days! [1, 2],

So, it is not a surprise that hunger riots are occurring around the continent. In Senegal (November 21, 2007). In Burkina-Faso (February 20, 2008). In Nigeria, In Guinea-Conakry (September 21, 2007 and February 20, 2008). In Cameroon, for instance, during the period of end February 2008-beginning of March 2008, violent risings led by gangs of jobless youths erupted in several cities and at the city-port of Douala. These risings degenerating into destruction of infrastructure, cars and vehicles smashing and shops burning. And the Army and police, in order to maintain Law and Order, were forced to fire ball-cartridges that caused the death of at least 25 people (official counting).

One can say that at the beginning of this millennium, sub-Saharan African countries are really at the cross road. A solution must be found, linked to proper developing strategy, as quickly as possible, to give hope to the youths (that represent 60% of African countries populations in 15-35 years-old range) to avoid a global conflagration and chaos. Indeed, everywhere, throughout the continent, unemployment level is high up to 70% of the population. 90% of graduated in all lines of knowledge are jobless.

Africabiz Online had in several issues raised the alarm and stated that the developing strategy implemented by African nations for 50 years running is not adequate, and cannot assist bridging the developing gap to creating riches to boost the populations living standard to descent levels.

The reader is invited to click on above link, and review some of the solutions advocated by Africabiz Online to overcome the looming disaster.

In addition to suggested solutions, let us consider once again the outstanding developing process occurring now in Qatar, which had been here briefly described.

Such kind of high-speed developing process (20%-25% annual growth rate during past 5 years), is possible only because the planning is proper and efficient, to avoid crashing. It is possible for Qatar to carry on at this breakneck speed, because the process is sustained by a highly sophisticated (military) logistics planning and management. No wonder, the supreme ruler of Qatar Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani has a military background.

Surfing through the several websites of Qatar's ministries, one can review the meticulous detailed description of objectives assigned to the ministries. Visit for instance the ministry that is in charge of agriculture development (search for ministry in charge of municipalities affairs), and see how the objectives assigned to the ministry are comprehensively described. Amazing! Keep in mind that this is a desert country, which has 99% dry-territory, and barely one month of rainy season. And yet agricultural development is planned and efficiently carried out.

Overcoming lack of arable lands and scanty rains which seems insuperable hindrances, is exactly what (military) logistics planning and management is about. African countries's decisions makers and rulers should emulate Qatar's logistics oriented developing strategy together with the one exposed here.

We invite you to learn more about the matter reading: The Benefits Of Logistics Management - by Trevor Marshall..

- SERVICES AND PRODUCTS FROM Dr. QUENUM & ASSOCIATES / BUSINESSAFRICA (TM)

List of Products and Solutions to trading and investing in and out emerging nations - and particularly in sub-Saharan African nations - is here to review.

We draw your attention to Jobs & Projects' platform that assists first, project-owners to tender for the best experts to carry out projects at very competitive costs, and, second, job-seekers to publish for free Résumés/CV to attract project-owners attention.

The Free and Pay-Per- Click advertisement platform is also the cheapest way to advertise for your business and drive traffic to your website.

Dr. Quenum and Associates, IBC / BusinessAfrica (TM) have decided to follow Yahoo wise business practice - that is to establish business relationship only with clients who can produce email address linked to an ISP domain name or that could be traced back against a database of valid and legitimate domain names. In other words, from now on, only ISP-based email messages can expect replies from Dr. Quenum & Associates, IBC / BusinessAfrica (TM). For more on the matter, please visit this link.

- Contributor's Guidelines are here to review. Your contribution on "How emerging nations and particularly African countries / entrepreneurs could bridge the developing gap" is welcome.

Your feedback / objection / contribution is welcome. Visit WorldWide BizCenter, and choose General Information (as topic) to create a thread for discussion. On the top of the WorldWide BizCenter page, there is a HELP link to assist you making an efficient use of the discussion board. This link also is useful

Many thanks for dropping by and see you here on April 15, 2008

Dr. B.M. Quenum
Editor of AFRICABIZ

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES IN AFRICA

- Several business opportunities with high profit making potential, which are economic catalysts and components to the Strategy for African Countries are listed in following table.

1-SHEA BUTTER (5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13) 2- BLUE GOLD (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19) 3- FREEZE-DRIED PAPAIN (20, 21, 22 and here) 4- KENAF (23, 24) 5- VEGETABLE OIL (25, 26, 27, 28) 6- CEREALS (30, 31, 32, 33) 7- FRUITS (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46) 8- ESSENTIAL OILS (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)	9- ROOTS & TUBERS (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64) 10- FOWL BREEDING (66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76) 11- FISH FARMING (78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87) 12- BIOMASS ENERGY (89, 90, 91, 92) 13- SUGAR CANE & PRODUCTS (93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99/100, 101, 102) 14- LIVESTOCK (103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108,

- LIVESTOCK & GAME DEVELOPMENT: PART IV - A MEDIUM-SCALE CATTLE FATTENING OPERATION - B - OPERATION SIZING UP

This delivery is a continuation of the previous ones [104, 105, 106] that laid down the basics for animal feed formulation.

Broad fattening trade's principle reads as follows: “Buy the cattle low. Fatten them cheaply. Sell them high.” Thus three main questions: (1) Where to buy; (2) How to fatten, and (3) How to sell

At following link are listed livestock breeds of the African origin
Wilkipedia provides here a long list of breeds worldwide
The following linked-site provides comprehensive description of African breeds

Let us consider a medium scale operation to fattening cattle, which delivers at full gear, 100 animals every month to the slaughterhouse. That is an operation that produces 1,200 fattened animals a year.

The selected breed being the White Fulani cattle. However, any breed specific to tropical areas, as per above links will do.

One hundred animals are purchased every month and placed in a quarantine plot for a short period, prior to the real fattening period, which extension is related to the weight gaining efficiency of the applied animal-feeding. .

- HERD HEALTHAND PARASITES CONTROL / QUARANTINE PERIOD

In African countries, cattle raised by wanderers pastoralists [106] are underfed and light-weighted in comparison to animals of the same age raised in developed countries.

Further, the pastoralists do not have the knowledge and or financial means to practice "permanent" sanitary check, and consequently the animals are most of the times infested with internal and external parasites. (1) Lung/respiratory diseases, (2) pasteurelloses and (3) ticks infestation being the most common cattle diseases in tropical areas.

Hence, the absolute necessity to quarantine the newly purchased animals, in order to correct and suppress above briefly mentioned deficiencies. Failing to do so, would result in the lengthening of the fattening period, that would impair the bottom line of the business .

Thus, each newly purchased batch of underfed animals will be quarantined for two to three weeks in a set-apart plot far away from the feeding plots, and submitted to systematic diseases diagnosis and appropriate veterinary checkup and eradication programme.

Computerized monitoring practice would be an asset to trace each animal throughout first the eradication programme, and second to adjust the eradication and vaccinations programme for each individual animal. Click here to get a listing of comprehensive software that can assist handling herds for better fattening results.

- PLOTS AREAS

Each single animal in each batch of 100 purchased White Fulani cattle weighting in average 75/ 80kg. The purpose of the fattening operation is to get healthy animals that would weight double at the end of the fattening period.

Data dating back to the 1980s (personal archive) and pertaining to the state-run fattening operation at Ferkessedougou / Ivory Coast show that the following daily feeding formula (per head) permits weight gains in the range of 450gr to 500gr per day. That allows for a global average weight-gain of 75kg to 80kg per animal at the end of 5-month or 6-month fattening-period.

a) 4.5kg of molasses [For more on molasses visit following links: 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99/100, 101, 102] b) 0.8kg up to 1kg of cotton-seed oil-cake/oil-meal [For more on oil-cake/ oil-meal click here] c) 5kg to 6kg of forage/fodder [For more on grazing and forage/fodder visit following links: 23, 24, 106] d) 10gr to 15gr of mineral salt [106]

Therefore, 6 feeding plots would be needed, in addition to the quarantine plot. Animal will be moved each month from plot number 1 to plot number 2, and so on to the last plot number 6, that sees their delivery to the slaughterhouse.

Owing to the fact that animals's dejections will abound in each plots, a (mechanized) waste disposal system would be necessary ( for instance a farm tractor equipped with a front loading wide bucket) to cleanup plots as often as possible and spread the dejections on areas to be planted with grazing seeds as per previous delivery

Allowing 12sq meters to each animal (cattle ranching practice at Aratacuba, Sao Paulo, Brazil - Source), the total area of each fattening plot could be set at 0.12 ha. That is a total area for the feeding lots plus the quarantine lot, and additional compound for building and equipment repository equals to about 1.5ha. Allowing 10ha to the pasture, the total area needed for the operation can be set at about 12ha.

Next issue 108 (to be delivered on April 15, 2008) will deal with the economics of the operation.

MORE ON LIVESTOCK & GAME DEVELOPMENT

1-Handbook of Livestock Management by Richard A. Battaglia (Paperback - Jul 21, 2006) 2- Raising Small Livestock: A Practical Handbook by Jerome D. Belanger (Paperback - Feb 11, 2005) 3- The Homesteader's Handbook to Raising Small Livestock Goats, Chickens, Sheep. Geese, Rabbitts, Hogs, Turkeys, Guinea Fowl, Ducks and Pigeons by Jerome D. Belanger (Hardcover - April 1974) 4- Backyard Livestock: Raising Good, Natural Food for Your Family, Third Edition by Steven Thomas and George P. Looby (Paperback - Jan 2, 2007) 5- Keeping Livestock Healthy: A Veterinary Guide to Horses, Cattle, Pigs, Goats & Sheep, 4th Edition by N. Bruce Haynes (Paperback - Nov 1, 2001) 6- Alternative Health Practices for Livestock by Michael Keilty and Thomas Morris (Hardcover - Jan 1, 2006)

7- A World Dictionary of Livestock Breed Types, and Varieties by V. Porter and I. L. Mason (Hardcover - Jun 6, 2002) 8- Livestock waste facilities handbook (Paperback - 1985) 9- Raising Small Livestock: A Practical Handbook by Jerome D. Belanger (Paperback - Feb 11, 2005) 10- Livestock Feeds and Feeding (5th Edition) (Hardcover - Jun 8, 2001) by Richard O. Kellems and David C. Church 11- Raising Game Birds by Lessiter Publications (Paperback - Jun 1986) 12- Livestock Production in Unfavourable Economic Environments: Strategies for Attaining Sustained Competitive Advantage by P. G. A Jennings (Hardcover - Mar 30, 2007)

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