The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a substantial loan of $260.4 million to support the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in enhancing its agricultural sector. This funding is designated for the Project to Support the Development of Value Chains, which is part of the broader Agriculture Transformation Programme (PADCV-PTA).
The total cost of the project is $311.6 million, with $250.4 million provided by the African Development Fund, the AfDB’s concessional financing window, and an additional $10 million from the Transition Support Facility, a funding mechanism for countries in transition. The DRC government and project beneficiaries will contribute $51.2 million in counterpart funding.
The primary objective of the project is to bolster the DRC’s food self-sufficiency by increasing the production of key staple crops such as rice, cassava, maize, and soya. This initiative is expected to significantly reduce the country’s dependency on food imports, which amounted to $3 billion in 2023—19 percent of the national budget—and mitigate the vulnerability to external shocks like climate change and armed conflict.
Key goals of the project include:
- Rebuilding Seed Capital: Enhancing the seed capital for rice, cassava, maize, and soya value chains to improve yields sustainably.
- Facilitating Market Access: Improving access to markets and providing suitable financing for agricultural stakeholders.
- Expanding Cultivation: Planting 295,000 hectares of crops using climate-resilient seeds.
- Establishing Training Programs: Setting up 1,600 farmer field schools and demonstration plots to promote climate-smart farming practices.
- Developing Irrigated Areas: Expanding irrigated rice-growing areas to enable intensive production, with at least two harvests per year.
The project will also address infrastructure needs by upgrading 600 km of rural roads to enhance access to production areas and markets. It aims to organize value chain stakeholders into cooperative companies to leverage economies of scale, thus improving bargaining power and facilitating access to funding through a shared-cost financing mechanism.
The initiative includes efforts to build the capacity of national agricultural research and seed systems, which will be implemented in six provinces: Kongo Central, Kwango, Maï-Ndombe, Kasaï Oriental, Lomami, and South Kivu. These provinces are key suppliers for major cities and neighboring countries. Approximately 900,000 farming households, including internally displaced persons, are expected to benefit directly from the project, impacting around 24 percent of the Congolese population.
The expected outcomes include an 80 percent increase in crop yields, a rise in agricultural production by 1.68 million tonnes annually, and an enhancement in private agricultural processing by 4.1 million tonnes over five years. The project is anticipated to reduce the DRC’s food imports by $500 million each year and strengthen food security for around 21 million inhabitants in Kinshasa, Mbuji-Mayi, and Bukavu. Additionally, it will promote regional integration between the DRC and Angola through agricultural trade.
Government services, private organizations, decentralized regional bodies, and women’s and youth organizations are among the beneficiaries.
Serge N’Guessan, the AfDB’s Director General for Central Africa, highlighted the strategic importance of the project, stating, “The African Development Bank is a strategic partner of the DRC, whose top authorities have decided to make agriculture the priority sector for the country’s development. This project will enable the rapid implementation of the National Food and Agriculture Pact, which aligns with the national vision.”
The initiative is expected to significantly impact the agricultural landscape of the DRC, fostering long-term food security and economic stability.
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