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Agriculture: DRC-FAO’s Partnership to boost rice production in Kinshasa.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has granted USD 500,000 to boost rice cultivation in Kinshasa, said Nzanga Mobutu, state minister for Agriculture during his visit at the headquarters of the National Rice Program in Nd'jili Town.

According to the FAO representative in the DRC, this contribution is part of the fight against the food crisis and soaring prices in the country. The amount allocated to the National Rice Program (PNR) will enable rice farmers and main beneficiaries, the acquisition of agricultural inputs. Already a batch of 40 000 machetes and hoes is stored at the headquarters of the NRP.

The FAO representative in the DRC said that this action will extend over throughout the country.

Specifically, the project which concerns 10 000 households of rice farmers in the hinterland of Kinshasa (Pool Malebo), aims at developing capacities of beneficiary households, sowing 2,500 hectares and to produce 6,250 tons of Paddy Or 3,750 tons of white rice.


"My concern is to fight for food safety throughout the national territory," said Nzanga Mobutu, the Congolese Minister of State for agriculture. But there is also a problem of road rehabilitation serving agriculture. "The production is not so much a problem, but the transport is the puzzle," he acknowledged.


According to the Minister Nzanga, the program will expand to other rice sites, especially in Bumba (Equateur), Kasongo (Maniema), Lodja (Eastern Kasai).

Auther Président's speech