[Stoves] Food for Africa.

[Carefreeland at aol.com]

Stovers. 
    I've been thinking a lot tonight about the food  situation in Africa. 
The fact is that there is a lot of land, but poor soils in  some places, and 
MIS management of large tracts based on ownership. It seems to  me that 
intensive farming has to be the way to go. Small farmers would not be  tied to 
large land payments. 
    Cheap row covers can help with a lot of the  problems I see with 
conserving water and controlling pests of all sizes. Shade  cloth is amazing, 
that, and water are all you need to grow in a tropical  environment. 
    Then I think about the large Natural Gas field just  discovered on the 
East Coast of Africa. 
Does anyone know if there are any ethane crackers, or polyethylene  
factories on the East Coast? If there are none, someone needs to pass a petition  
to get one. The big energy producers will do whatever is supported and make  
money. I forget which major oil companies are in that lease. We can look 
that  up. They should be approached. 
    Also, An ammonia plant would produce a plentiful  supply of cheap 
stable nitrogen. 
    Both fundamental chemicals would produce a host of  other spin off 
industries.
    This exact chain of events is happening here in  Ohio and Pennsylvania 
with the Marcellas/ Utica shale discovery. It is a repeat  of the great 
industrial revolution that swept Ohio in mid 1900s fuels by cheap  shallow gas. 
We still make a loofa of concrete, ceramics, glass, steel, rubber.  and so 
on.
    This would spear head bringing the gas home. It  would reduce carbon 
pollution by saving all the shipping of LNG. Even if they  installed small 
ethylene separators in the well field, the ethylene could be  shipped by barge 
to the shore right away, before the pipeline was even built. 
    To get the funding for a pipeline you need an  immediate, captive, 
profitable market for the gas, waiting. The  manufacturing of cheap UV resistant 
plastic sheeting and more importantly, shade  cloth, would create a green 
revolution. People would be lining shelters with the  old yellowed, disagreed 
plastic. 
    Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for renewable and  such. The issue here 
is that the gas will get produced, and who is the best  party to use that 
gas in the larger scheme of things. Why send the gas to China  and then send 
products back?  It makes no sense.  Reducing poverty and  hunger are never a 
bad thing. 
    The distribution of finished plastic goods, The  distribution of 
fertilizer, then the produce it helps create, will spread over  the continent. 
Then there will be resources to buy things from China anyway.  It's a wining 
situation for everybody. But it all starts with controlling a  share of the 
feedstock at home. Economics is all about value added, and then  vertical 
integration.
    This revolution would enhance the production of  renewable, not inhibit 
it. One had washes the other. 
    Just some thoughts. What do I know about Africa? 
    
    Dan Dimiduk
 
     
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