Agriculture sector of Democratic Republic of the Congo - Problems and Solutions

1. Topic: Propose a financing solution that will increase private and/or public
finance for development in a country of your choosing (for Development Track
participants: a fragile or conflict state or region) that uses the IDA PSW. Think
about the key facts or ideas you wish to convey by answering the following
questions:
(Development track)
The country of analysis:
Democratic Republic of the Congo
1. What is the problem or issue that you are
trying to solve?
Agriculture: The Democratic Republic of the Congo has lots of good conditions to develop their
agriculture sector, howerver, they have some troubles realizing their potentials:
• Only 10 % of its arable land is used for agriculture. Although it has 80 million hectares of
arable land, diverse climatic conditions and abundant water resources but it had to spend $
1.3 billion on food imports in 2012 (which is a paradox)
• The nutrition situation is extremely alarming. The DRC was the hungriest country in the
world in 2011, according to the Global Hunger Index (GHI), an annual ranking, which is
published by the International Food Policy Research Institute in cooperation with the
charities Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide. The DRC had equally received the worst
GHI scores in 2009 and 2010.
• In 2005, the Congolese Ministry of Health cited malnutrition as the underlying cause in 48
% of cases of infant mortality (WHO 2005). In 2007, 45.8 % of children suffered from
stunting (low height for their age), 28.2 % were underweight and 14 % were affected by
wasting (low weight for height) according to the World Health Organisation (WHO 2011).
The same statistics showed that 70.6 % of children under the age of five were anemic, as
were 67.3 % of pregnant women.
• Today, life expectancy in the DRC is around 47 years for men and 51 years for women, and
about 20 % of children die before reaching the age of five (Pfingu 2011, UNDP 2010). Of
course, malnutrition is not the only reason, but it is a big part of the problem.
2. What are the reasons that the government, official aid provider or private
sector would want to participate?
• Congo government would like to take part in this project because this is the first and
necessary step to reduce poverty, diseases and malnutrition problems.
• Official aid may offer their support since Congo is one of the poorest countries in the world
(it is in the list of both IBRD and IDA)
• Private sectors should participate in investing in Congo because this is a profitable sector:
Large sections of arable land not yet cultivated (90%). Grazing land capable of
supporting nearly 40 million head of cattle. Inland fisheries resources that can
enable annual production of at least 700,000 tons of fish.
Diverse climatic condition allow the practice of various farming activities: "Congo
has vast lands both in the north and south of the equator. This means there’s a rainy

2. season somewhere all the time. Unlike many other countries in Africa, Congo is
uniquely resilient to climate change. All year round, Congo could be in full-time
production." says Alexis Bonte, Congo's representative at the UN’s Food and
Agriculture Organization.
The Congo government expressed their wills to wake up this dormant sector, so
there will be many privileges for private sectors when they participate in this
project. “Our aim is to achieve inclusive growth and we have set ourselves goals
for 2030, focusing on revitalizing the country’s dormant and forgotten agricultural
sector,” Vahamwiti Minister of Agriculture of the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC), in the run up to the AgriBusiness Forum 2014 explained. “Our
goal is to invest and attract investment to our vast and fertile lands, which is why
we are hosting a pan-African forum such as the AgriBusiness Forum,” he added. “It
is now that we must take the lead on agricultural matters and reverse the course of
this sector on which millions of people depend.”
3. What are the main obstacles currently standing in the way of unlocking
financial opportunities? How would your solution overcome them? Consider the
country context, if your proposal involves a specific country.
• The main obstacles are:
Farmers are in shortage of agriculture know-how.
Limited access to financial services and lack of infrastructure to support agriculture.
All the prices of imported frozen products have increased because of corruption in
the supply chain There are too many unofficial taxes and too many checkpoints in
the supply chain. Retailers and other importers are corrupt at all levels. In the end,
they pass on any losses to poor consumers.
Displaced people have to move constantly due to wars, protests and confrontations.
They have to leave all their agricultural assets everytime when they move.
• These obtacles can be overcome by several ways:
Congo government need to adopt a wide range of measures including rebuilding
transportation infrastructure, revisiting land policies and adopting appropriate
investment regulations to regain confidence in agriculture as a viable economic
activity of both the people of DRC and foreign investors
A goverment should guarantee people a stable society in the sense that local
population would not be constantly displaced from place to place, so that their
works will not be disrupted.
Micro-finance should be provided for the poor to inzitialize their projects.
Goverment should also spend a significant amout of public finance on education to
improve the quality of labor force.
Last but not least, Congo goverment have to ensure a transparent and stable
business environment, which is an essential requirement to attract more foreign
investors to come to Congo.
Resources:
http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/congo
http://global-growing.org/de/content/agricultural-development-democratic-republic-congo

3. http://www.ifpri.org/publication/2011-global-hunger-index
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-culture/food/the-plate/2016/12/can-
congolese-agriculture-be-the-key-to-preventing-future-famine/
https://agrifoodecon.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40100-014-0004-3
http://www.irinnews.org/report/96889/congo-imports-corruption-drive-food-prices
http://spice4life.co.za/lets_talk_business/tips_and_advice/democratic-republic-congo-open-
agribusiness-investment/