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More and more Congolese living in urban areas are engaging in agriculture and animal husbandry. Among them, lawyers, company directors, university professors and doctors. Although agriculture is still often considered a low-paying activity, these farmers of a new kind are betting on the organic sector, deemed to be more profitable.
From our correspondent in Lubumbashi,
35 kilometers northwest of Lubumbashi, Hubert Tshiswaka has been operating a 12-hectare farm for five years. ” Here it is in the agriculture part. We are planting cassava. This is the part where we removed the first harvest of cassava, 10 to 15 tons… It was a lot! »
And then there is the breeding part of 7 hectares: “ There are turkeys, ducks, chickens. And there, I have just started raising pigs. I bought them very small. Now they are six months old. »
This lawyer turned farmer spent more than ten years in South Africa. It was by observing his South African colleagues that he came up with the idea of his retraining.
« Every Thursday evening or Friday, everyone went to their villages and took care of their farms. Whereas we are abandoning our lands instead of transforming them. The lands are taken by others, Chinese, Indians or Brazilians. »
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extra income
Further east of Lubumbashi, 120 km away, Idy Ramazani has an orchard. Returning to the country following twenty years spent in Belgium, this director of a mining company combines his work with agriculture. Palm oil might allow him to inflate his income. ” If I can already produce 2 000 liters per month is 2 000 dollars. At that time, I will be retired and I prefer to have this extra money. »
Getting extra income is also the motivation of Lydia Kat, a young woman of 31 years. She grows beans and sweet potato. To develop her project as well as possible, she joined the farmers’ club of Katanga. ” In our group, there are not only farmers, there are also veterinarians and agronomists. For example, if you don’t know how to grow corn, you can call on the agronomist. All advice and visits are free. »
80 million hectares of arable land
Baudouin Kakudji from the agriculture department in Lubumbashi is proud to see the number of small farmers grow in recent years: ” With all this potential, there is a way to make a living from this sector and to diversify our economy. We have arable land, we have good rainfall and we have competent human resources. »
The DRC has nearly 80 million hectares of arable land. For the experts, the sector suffers above all from the absence of a coherent national policy and good governance.
► Read also: DRC: rice farmers in the Lubumbashi region seek to mechanize their fields
