2023-10-08 17:58:04
Gaston Mutamba Permission
The Congolese authorities organized the Agribusiness Forum on October 4 and 5 in Kinshasa, the central theme of which was “The revenge of the soil on the subsoil”. At the opening, the Minister of Agriculture, José Mpanda declared that “the major challenge of this forum is to transform the agricultural potential of the DRC into real wealth, to make this country a real agricultural power and to ensure the food sovereignty of the Congolese people”. For the government, the country can achieve this through domestic and foreign investment through public-private partnerships.
It is through agriculture that it is possible to create centers of wealth. The agricultural sector creates jobs. Income from agricultural surplus can contribute to general prosperity. But armed conflicts, nationalizations, looting, artisanal mining, the deterioration of transport infrastructure and the obsolescence of agricultural equipment have contributed to the decline in production. The country has been facing a shortage of food products for several years. The food deficit is made up by importing corn, rice, wheat, sugar, meat and fish. Imports increasingly represent a significant share of foreign trade.
In his speech at the Forum, Georges Forrest, a major mining and agricultural entrepreneur, affirmed that “The weakness of our food production reveals a deep crisis situation. Our country produces less than half of the food we consume: more than half of what the Congolese eat is imported. Yes, with its fertile lands, its large rivers, its climatic variety, the strength of the available hands, the innovations in digital technology among young people, the Congo is first and foremost an agricultural country before being a mining country..
In order to compensate for the absence, for several decades, of an agricultural policy, a law establishing fundamental principles relating to agriculture was promulgated on December 24, 2011, by the President of the Republic. The provisions of this law apply to agricultural exploitation, training and research, the financing of agricultural activity, environmental protection and customs and tax regimes. They do not apply to livestock farming, fishing and aquaculture (art. 2 of the law). The agricultural policy that is defined aims to promote and grow agricultural production as well as rural development and food security. Note, however, that article 16 of this law meets strong opposition from foreign farmers who consider it discriminatory. This article provides in particular that to acquire agricultural land, one must be a natural person of Congolese nationality or a legal entity under Congolese law whose shares or shares, as the case may be, are majority owned by the Congolese State and/or by the nationals. Some compare this article to the Zairianization policy of 1973 which resulted in the dispossession of businesses and industries belonging to foreigners for the benefit of nationals.
The FEC (Federation of Congolese Companies) recalls this in its speech read at the Forum, “We, the FEC, were among the initiators of Law No. 11/022 of December 24, 2011 on fundamental principles relating to agriculture, the so-called AGRICULTURAL LAW. Unfortunately, this law contains certain provisions, which were not included in the initial proposal, which today constitute obstacles to the development of the agricultural sector and to investments already acquired and, above all, those to come. Despite the numerous calls for the modification of these provisions, our proposals, twelve years later, are still relevant and remain without action. It is important to have an appropriate, equitable and sustainable agricultural policy that stimulates investments in the agricultural sector”.
Therefore, to attract foreign investors and secure their investments, we must first review the Agricultural Code.
Gaston Mutamba Permission
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