African Development Bank Approves $260.4 Million Loan to Support Congo’s Agriculture Transformation
The African Development Bank Group has approved a loan of $260.4 million to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to support the development of value chains in the agriculture sector. The project, worth $311.6 million, aims to boost food self-sufficiency and reduce the country’s reliance on large-scale food imports.
The loan, which is part of the Bank’s backing for the Agriculture Transformation Programme (PADCV-PTA), will be used to finance the development of value chains for rice, cassava, maize, and soya. The project will also focus on improving yields in a sustainable manner and structuring the access of stakeholders to markets and suitable financing.
The project will benefit 900,000 farming households, including internally displaced people, and will be implemented in six provinces. It is expected to increase yields of the targeted crops by 80 per cent, boost agricultural production by 1.68 million tonnes per year, and reduce the DRC’s food imports by $500 million a year.
The project will also enhance regional integration between the DRC and neighbouring Angola via trade in agricultural products. The African Development Bank’s Director General for Central Africa, Serge N’Guessan, said that the project will enable the rapid implementation of the National Food and Agriculture Pact, which is part of the country’s national vision.
The project will make inputs available to producers on credit at the start of the cropping season, repayable at harvest time, to build up working capital. It will also upgrade 600 km of rural tracks to open up production basins and facilitate access to consumption areas.
The project aims to organise value chain stakeholders into cooperative companies, bolster the bargaining power and capacity of small-scale producers, and provide a shared-cost financing mechanism. It will also build the capacity of national agricultural research and seed system stakeholders to reestablish the national seed capital.
The project is expected to have a significant impact on the DRC’s food security, particularly in the three major urban centres of Kinshasa, Mbuji-Mayi, and Bukavu, where food security will be strengthened for around 21 million inhabitants.
