During his recent visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), IITA Director General Dr Nteranya Sanginga met technical and financial partners of the Institute to discuss synergizing ongoing agricultural development and transformation programs for sustainable results. His tour included visits to the Minister of Agriculture Excellency Désiré M’Zinga Birihanze, Minister of Finance Excellency Nicolas Kazadi, World Bank Country Director Christophe Carret, and other government and private sector partners.
DG Sanginga’s visit came a month after IITA commenced activities as a technical partner in the Agenda for the Transformation of Agriculture in the Democratic Republic of Congo (ATA-DRC) Program. He highlighted the sustainability advantages to the Congolese government and its partners for agricultural transformation regarding investing in different initiatives with converging interests.
The DG visited Ceragru, an Agri multiplier in rural Kinshasa and an ATA-DRC Program recipient during his tour. IITA is supporting Ceragru in upgrading their laboratory equipment, training laboratory workers and technicians, and consulting on the renovation of the agricultural greenhouse for rapid multiplication of cassava cuttings.
Cassava cuttings from Ceragru will be transplanted to the seed field of the Government’s Mongata agricultural site. IITA is also providing technical backstopping to Mongata, particularly with optimizing the mechanization of the farm and the processing plant.
With the optimized mechanization, field clearing has been reduced to 8 hours for 50 ha from the previous estimate of 45 days with manual labor. This has also reduced costs to US$10 ha/day from US$35 ha/day.
While visiting the Mongata field activities, DG Sanginga discussed the collaboration between IITA and Bio Agronomic Business (BAB)—a company managing agricultural sites in the DRC. Though IITA will manage Mongata because it provides technical support in production, processing, and facilitation for the market, BAB will handle sales.
The ATA-DRC Program, initiated by DRC President H.E President Félix Tshisekedi, aims to transform the nation’s agriculture into a profitable sector, creating wealth and jobs and sustaining food security within and beyond the region.
Contributed by Michèle Kimpwene
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