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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.
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reader, welcome back.
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IN IVORY COAST THE NATIONAL ARMY AND THE REBELS DECIDED
TO BURY THE WAR HATCHET
On July 4, 2003, the "Loyalists" - in other words the remain of the
former national Army of Ivory Coast, which backed the government of President
Laurent Gbagbo since the failed
coup of September 19, 2002 - and the Army of the Rebels, which challenged
Gbagbo's power, decided, unexpectedly and suddenly , to bury the war hatchet.
The Reconcilement Government, provided for by the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement,
is in change since March 2003 without the appointment of the ministries of Defense
and Security. President
Gbagbo adamantly refusing to grant said positions to the Rebels.
Beginning of July 2003 Gbagbo asked the chiefs of the two armies to harmonize
their positions and propose two high rank military-men for the ministerial positions
of Security and Defense.
Unexpectedly the delegation of the two armies
comes up with a declaration in which they refuse to select anyone from the "Army"
for said positions. Furthermore, they asked Gbagbo "to appoint as soon
as possible" the two ministers as laid down in the Linas-Marcoussis and
Accra Agreements. And most extraordinary they declared the war over.
The Army's declaration dated July 4, 2003 sounds like a ultimatum to president
Gbagbo.
In brief, Ivory Coast's Military decided to impose peace
on Gbagbo and the politicians. No doubt the event is to be marked with red
ink and will have a positive impact to accelerating the end of the political crisis.
Without the backing of the "loyalists", Gbagbo is now on tight
rope. Either he falls in line completely and stops maneuvering to impeach the
full implementation of Marcoussis Agreement, and survive till the next presidential
ballot of end 2005; or he and his followers activists continue the brinkmanship
game of fighting against Marcoussis
Agreement and he will be very soon in serious political trouble.
Doubtless, with the astounding declaration of the army forces, on July 4, 2003,
the road to peace in Ivory Coast is cleared even if a bumpy one. And
that is a good new for the west Africa region
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AFRICA MUST EMBRACE THE GENETICS REVOLUTION
Africa
did not participate to the development of the industrial revolution. It is striving
now to be part of the Information Technology one. It should not miss the opportunity
to be a player in the Genetics Revolution. Emerging countries like India and China
understood the challenge and are taking necessary steps not to be let aside. Africa
can and must do the same.
Professor Doherty said: "Double helix
is the shape of things to come...If we are to be responsible citizens, we must
all learn more about genetics."
Africa's decision makers will
do a good job taking the necessary steps to pave the way for African countries
to enter the revolution of the century. Otherwise, Africa will be blew off; let
aside for good and remain under the political, economic and social domination
of the western European countries and the United States of America. Click
here for more
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Contributor's Guidelines are here
for review. Your contribution on "How African countries / entrepreneurs
could bridge the developing gap" is welcome.
Many thanks for dropping by and see you here on August
15, 2003
Dr. B.M. Quenum
Editor
of AFRICABIZ
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Several business opportunities - component parts of the Integrated Developing Scheme described in Africans, Stop Being Poor! are listed in following table.
| a-
SHEA BUTTER (Issues 5, 6,
7, 11,
12, 13)
b- BLUE GOLD (Issues 14,
15, 16,
17, 18,
19)
c- FREEZE-DRIED
PAPAIN (Issues 20, 21,
22 and here)
d- KENAF (Issues 23,
24)
e- VEGETABLE OIL
(Issues 25, 26,
27 and 28)
f- CEREALS (Issues 30,
31, 32,
33)
g- FRUITS
(34, 35,
36, 37,
38, 39,
40, 42,
43, 44,
45, 46)
h- ESSENTIAL OILS (47,
48, 49,
50) |
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TROPICAL FLOWERS AND FRAGRANCE PLANTS AGRIBUSINESS AS INCOME
BUILDING POWER FOR AN AFRICAN COMMUNITY: PART
- V - INDUSTRIAL SCALE PRODUCTION OF ESSENTIAL OILS - PRODUCTION ESTIMATES OF
EXISTING PLANTATIONS IN MALAWI
Essential
oils are odorous products from natural raw materials such as leaves, fruits, roots
and wood of many seasonal or perennial plants. They are of complex composition
and contain alcohol, aldehydes, ketones, phenols, esters, ethers, and turpenes
in varying proportions. An estimated 3,000 essential oils exist of which around
300 are of commercial importance. Most of them obtained from agricultural plants,
but some 28 essential oils collected in commercial quantities from wild sources
Here is a short-list of essential
oils and the plants they originated from; with the main producing countries.
To give an idea of the complex mixture of chemical ingredients present
in essential oils, the chemical
composition of Geranium essential oil is exposed here
- WHY AFRICAN COUNTRIES SHOULD CONSIDER ESSENTIAL OILS INDUSTRY
The
size of essential oils' market exposed in Issue 47
averages US$ 8 billion export a year and increases at the annual rate of 10.9%.
Africa' share is less than 1% of that market. Doubtless, there is room
for Africa to have a better portion of the cake and kill two birds with one stone.
Indeed, most sub-Saharan African countries suffer recurrent drought, which
results in desertification of their territories. A well planned and carried
out reforestation policy is the answer to the problem. Trees species, which are
raw material to produce aromatic oils should be planted. The most promising
speculations are essential oils from: Geranium, Citronella, Lemongrass or Sweet
calamus, Eucalyptus. (See
Issue 47 for briefs about said plants)
Once an essential oil industry
set up in a sub-Saharan African country, it opens the way to develop other business
opportunities: foods, cosmetics, detergent, pesticides, pharmaceuticals; and contribute
to the Self-Inducing And Accelerating
Impact Factoror Synergetic
Impact Factor to speeding up the economic development of said country.
The condition to develop essential oils' industry, on small, medium or large-scale
basis, is of course the availability of the raw material. Agricultural development
of the raw materials (plants, seeds,
nuts here listed) used to produce essential oils are not considered in this
delivery. People interested in the matter should refer to other sources for data
and information. Only exposed are cultural technical information and investment
data necessary to the setup of the industry.
In sub-Saharan African countries,
Malawi is the one country that
already has plantations of Eucalyptus (15,000 ha); Lemongrass (3,200 ha) and
Citronella (2,800 ha).
- MALAWI'S PLANTATIONS PRODUCTION ESTIMATE
Let
us consider an operation in Malawi to produce essential oils of Eucalyptus, Lemongrass
and Citronella. Before the exposition
of the investment amount required, we need to know more about the production's
estimates of the various essential oil generating plants available in Malawi.
Estimates below briefly outlined are either from Dr. Quenum & Asssociates'
private information and data; or from other referenced sources
1-
EUCALYPTUS: The Eucalyptus' plantations in Malawi are used mainly to
produce: a - Fire wood b- Poles for electricity network. The
leaves are not extensively used to produce essential oil.
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A matured Eucalyptus tree in Malawi's plantations bears in average 13 kg of
leaves suitable for the production of Eucalyptus essential oil. Each hectare of
plantation has 1,600 trees. Therefore each matured plantation of one hectare of
Eucalyptus yields in average 20,800 kg of Eucalyptus leaves.
b- Taking
into account that branches and leaves are produced by the stub of a cut tree
within a period of 6 months, a new harvest of leaves can take place every six
months averaging 3.5 to 4 kg per "stub". Which means that in average,
considering matured cut trees and stubs together the production of one hectare
of Eucalyptus plantation per year is equal to [13 kg + (3.5 kg x2)] x 1,600 =
32,000 kg
c- Let us consider that 300 hectares of Eucalyptus plantations
(that is to say a tiny amount of existing 15,000 hectares) are used for the essential
oil production operation. The raw material available (Eucalyptus leaves) is then
32 metric tons x 300 = 9,600 metric tons.
d- The yield of essential
oil originating from Eucalyptus leaves is 1%. 9,600 metric tons shall produce:
96 metric tons of Eucalyptus essential oil. Or conservatively: 96,000 / 0,8770
= 109,464 liters of Eucalyptus essential oil. (Relative density at 20°
C: 0,8592 - 0,8770) |
2- LEMONGRASS: Lemongrass is ready for harvest
90 days after planting. Plots' planting and management therefore allow for 5-6
cuttings a year depending upon soil and climatic conditions. The grass is cut
10 cm above the ground level and the crop can be retained in the field for 5 to
6 years. Depending upon the planting period, one or two cuttings are taken in
the first year and from second year onwards, 3-4 cuttings are available. Harvesting
consists of fresh leaves and also the dry or semidried leaves at intervals of
60 days. The crop should not be allowed to flower profusely as it reduces the
overall yield. [Source]
The yield of essential oil originating from lemongrass' cuts is .4%
in weight. There are enough lemongrass acreage in Malawi [3,200 ha] o obtaining
7,000 metric tons of fresh cut per year to producing 28 metric tons of lemeongrass
essential oil or 32,000 liters.
3- CITRONELLA:
A tall aromatic grass related to lemongrass. Harvesting is usually six to eight
months after planting, just prior to flowering. Three to five harvests per year
are possible depending on technical cultural conditions and management. The duration
of a well managed agribusiness plantation could reach 10 years, before the plots
are planted again.
The yield of essential oil originating from citronella's
cuts is 1% in weight. There are 2,800 ha of citronella plantations in Malawi,
which can supply 7,,000 metric tons of fresh cut a year to producing 70 metric
tons of essential oil or 78,000 liters [Relative density at 20° C: 0,883
- 0,900]
Next issue 52
will expose investment data about an industrial scale operation to producing Eucalyptus,
Geranium and Lemongrass essential oils based on production estimates above briefly
outlined.
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