Democratic Republic of Congo: The Thematic Group organises a symposium on food security in the D. R. of Congo
The Thematic Group on Food Security and Rural Development in D. R. of Congo organized a symposium on Emergency Humanitarian Aid in Sustainable Development and Agriculture for better food security in the D. R. of Congo. The symposium, organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock, was held on 18 February 2003.
Participating in the Symposium were representatives from a number of institutions:
- Ministries : Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock; Land Affairs, Environment and Tourism; National Education and Scientific Research; Health
- Research Institutes : Institut National pour l'Étude et la Recherche Agronomique (INERA - National Institute for the agronomic study and research), International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
- Bi-lateral and multi-lateral Cooperation Agencies: European Commission, Belgium, United States, Italy, China
- UN agencies: United Nations Development Programme, World Food Programme, World Health Organization, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Bank
- Non Government Organizations: Hanns Seidel Foundation, Associazone per la cooperazione internationale e l'aiuto umanitario (ALISEI - Association for international Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid)
- Private Sector
The principle conclusions and recommendations of the Symposium concerned:
- The re-establishment of peace and the reunification of the territory. The war created an environment that discourages production and investment (pillaging, population displacement) and disrupts the distribution system. A report from February 2003 from the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that there are around 2.7 million internally displaced people within D.R.Congo.
- The implementation of strategies, which allow the assured transition of emergency food and agricultural aid for the sustainable development of the agricultural sector.
In this context, the symposium retained three strategic themes:
- Increase food production by:
- adapting immediate direct assistance according to the vulnerability and the specific zones,
- supporting the applied agricultural research, notably on food crops (manioc, maize, rice, leguminous plants, plantain),
- developing horticulture and small-scale urban and peri-urban agriculture, in elaborating an appropriate seed policy and seed legislation, and
- supporting the rehabilitation and the reinforcement of traditional networks of communication, (rivers, roads, railways) to access zones of productions and organise a network for the commercialization of products.
- Increased financing and investments to the agricultural sector by:
- harmonising and clarifying the different programmes in the course of financing (Projects from the agricultural sector and the Emergency Multi-sectoral programme for rehabilitation and construction) in order to increase the effectiveness and impact,
- promulgating a more flexible and inciting code of investments to attract national and foreign investments, and
- inciting the Government to allocate at least 5-10% of its own resources to the agricultural sector and by actualising the framework for agricultural and rural development and guaranteeing the financing of the provincial action plans.
- Institutional reinforcement and capacity building by:
- reinforcing the productive capacity of the Institut national pour l'étude et la recherche agronomique (INERA - National Institute for the agronomic study and research) and the basic framing structures of communities and support to the production of vegetables, meat and fish, by restructuring the Ministry of Agriculture,
- supporting the setting up of an information system on food security, as well as mechanisms for the collection and follow-up of agricultural statistics and in/by developing an active partnership between the private sector, the international community and the development banks for the investments, the transfer of technologies and the creation of employment in the sector.
For more information on the symposium please contact the FAO representative, Ad Spijkers
FAO-CD@fao.org
