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ANTANANARIVO, May 24 (Xinhua) -- In the town of Mahazzaza, 50 kilometers from The Madagascar capital Antananarivo, 29, Anya and her wife, Sekhno, have been running a chicken farm for five years. The chicken farm currently has about 40,000 layer chickens in stock, and the farm ships tens of thousands of eggs to the capital market every week.
Today, the size of chicken farms has doubled compared to the start-up days. Pointing to a long row of bungalows in front of her, Anya proudly told Xinhua News Agency: "This is a newly built chicken coop this year, which is prepared for raising more layer chickens in the future." Thanks to the precious gift Chinese gave us! ”
Anya, a farmer in Mahazazaza, Madagascar, works on her chicken farm on May 3. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Sitaka Rajonarisson)
Anya's "precious gift" is a 19-kilometer road. The road connecting Mahazaza and Antananarivo was built with the assistance of the Chinese government and undertaken by Jiangxi China Coal Construction Group Co., Ltd. and was officially completed in January this year. This road is affectionately known by locals as the "Egg Road".
The town of Mahazaza is a veritable "egg village" with 200 to 250 large and small farmers like Anya engaged in layer farming. According to the mayor of the town, Ferman, the town's current egg production accounts for about 30 to 40% of Madagascar's total national production, and most of the eggs here are shipped to the capital market for sale.
Philman said that before Chinese came to build the road, the town's egg farmers were struggling to transport eggs. "The dirt roads are potholed and full of mud during the rainy season, which is a nightmare for egg farmers." According to Anya, before the "Egg Road" was built, a truckload of eggs was transported to the capital, and the damage rate was as high as 10% to 20%. Moreover, the short distance from the town to the capital is three or four hours due to road conditions. Anya and her family need to leave their homes at 1:00 a.m. to ensure that the eggs are delivered to the capital stalls at 5 a.m.
Wu Yong, executive deputy manager of the "Egg Road" project and director of the Madagascar Office of Jiangxi China Coal, said that after the completion of the "Egg Road" aided by China, the bumpy dirt road has become a flat asphalt concrete road, and the original narrow road surface has also been widened, the main road section is 8.5 meters wide, the maximum width of the urban section is 12 meters, and the original remote town of Mahazaza has also been directly connected to the National Highway No. 4.
On the outskirts of Antananarivo, madagascar's capital, locals walk on an "egg road" built with the help of the Chinese government on May 3. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Sitaka Rajonarisson)
"This path has truly changed our lives." Anya said he and his wife can now leave home at 4 a.m. to deliver eggs. "The proportion of eggs damaged is very low, carefully packed, driving carefully on the road, eggs basically will not break."
Currently, the average daily egg production in Mahazaza is between 300,000 and 400,000. According to Philman, in 2021, the town of Mahazaza will receive 19 million aliary (about 32,000 yuan) from the sale of local eggs. "We are looking forward to further increases in egg production this year, which is expected to generate 30 million Ariaryari (about 50,000 yuan) for the town."
Anya noticed that the town of Mahazaza was also changing. "Now, you can find almost everything you need in the town, instead of going to the nearby town where you want to buy something, as you used to."
Farmers in the town of Mahazaza, Madagascar, load and unload eggs on May 3. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Sitaka Rajonarisson)
Philman said the town government is considering building a large egg market in the town. With this "egg road", people can easily come to Mahazaza town from all over the country to buy eggs, and local egg farmers can save on egg transportation costs.
"We don't just have eggs, but milk, onions, garlic..." Fellman counted, "life here will change dramatically, and we thank Chinese for their generosity." ”
Red and white safety piles are embedded on both sides of the gray-black asphalt road, and clusters of new roads wind through the green hills and rice fields of madagascar's central plateau. "There are a lot of people who come here to see this road, and some people say it's one of the most beautiful roads in Madagascar." "That's also the pride of the Malagasy people," Philman said. (Reporters: Ling Xin, Cui Kexin; Editors: Cui Kexin; Editors: Wang Yanan, Jin Zheng, Wang Fengfeng)
Produced by the International Department of Xinhua News Agency
Produced by Xinhua News Agency's International Communication Integration Platform