DRC farmers seek to feed Kinshasa, despite obstacles

THE Kimwenza Valley is a vital source of food for residents of Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, but its farmers need help to meet their ballooning needs.

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They are constricted on the one hand by construction that is transforming fields into concrete jungles, and on the other, by impoverished soils and competition from cheap food imports that undermine their revenue.

The DRC has nearly 80 million hectares of arable land and four million hectares of irrigable land.

But only one percent is actually cultivated, according to a study published in 2022 by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

And more than 26 million Congolese people are at risk of severe food insecurity by early 2026, the UN said.

Coveted for its vast mineral resources, the central African country is seeing sectors of the economy other than mining being crowded out, the FAO said.

There are two very different flanks to Kimwenza Valley on the southern outskirts of Kinshasa, a megacity of around 17 million inhabitants which is constantly expanding and engulfing the surrounding countryside.