VOICE OF AMERICA
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is developing plans for mega-farms of 50,000 to 150,000 hectares per province — producing food for local consumption and export. The government says the aim is to promote food security.
A park at Boukanga Lonzo, in the western end of the country, has 5,000 hectares under cultivation. The site is on a plateau, and crops already stretch as far as the eye can see.
Isaac Saleh, an economist in the prime minister’s office, said crops are being harvested on about 3,300 hectares of that land. Most of the production at the mega-farms will be mechanized, but 7,000 jobs will be created on the farm in the near future, according to the government.
On 1,000 hectares, the employees will work full time to cultivate and harvest vegetables irrigated by sprinklers rotating on 20 huge pivots. “Each pivot is the length of a football pitch [field],” Saleh said, “and it’s big enough that vegetables under the pivot can be planted and harvested every day.”
The DRC government says the food is intended for Kinshasa and should help cut down on the $1.5 billion the DRC pays each year for food imports.
Under the plans, Boukanga Lonzo also will be a new town, with processing industries and many other jobs. The government says it already has spent $100 million on infrastructure for the park and the town, mainly on a power grid, a water-pumping station and productive machinery.
John Ulimwengu, the prime minister’s chief agricultural advisor, said the agro-industrial park model will be replicated in other provinces. The government is the majority shareholder at Boukanga Lonzo, and it is leasing land to investors for 25 years.
Beyond having up to 11 mega-farms, the government also plans to have smaller agricultural development centers of 200 hectares to 300 hectares across the country.