1. The Democratic Republic of the Congo ranks 186/187 countries on the Human Development Index. Per Capita Gross income in 2012 was $220 (Atlas Method). 4 out of 10 children suffer from stunted growth due to lack of nutrition[1]. For the last 4 years, the country has topped the Global Hunger Index[2] and currently only 10% of DRC’s arable land is in use which leaves a lot of room for this traditional country to grow. Only 3% of the land is currently arable with 11.3% being suitable for crops.
2. In 2006, 67% of the DRC’s population lived in rural areas[3]. The same year, agriculture accounted for 46% of the DRC’s GDP. Currently, agriculture is growing at 2% a year, less than the 10-year population growth rate of 2.83%.
Figure 1 : Agriculture as a percent of GDP
The only one of DRC’s major exports that is an agricultural product is coffee.
The DRC’s major agricultural products are: coffee, sugar, palm oil, rubber, tea, quinine, cassava, palm oil, bananas, assorted root crops, maize, and assorted fruits[4].
3. The DRC is an agricultural net-importer.
4. According to the African Development Bank, 72 percent of rural households and 59 percent of urban households are poor[5]. In 2006, the DRC had a GINI Index of .444 – roughly the same as the United States GINI of .45[6].
5. Use of fertilizer in the DRC has the opportunity to vastly improve agriculture in the DRC. Current consumption is only .7 kilograms of fertilizer per hectare of arable land. Investment in machinery would yield large positive gains. Food from livestock has increased 17.3% since 2006. Cereal yield was 799 kilograms per hectare in 2012. Currently the use of tractors for farming is practically non-existent. Freshwater withdrawals for agricultural use accounted for 18% of total water withdrawals in 2012, but only 29% of the rural population has access to an improved drinking water source for drinking or irrigation purposes.
6. In 2012, 28% of people in DRC subscribe to cell-phone service – up from 23% the year before.
In 2004, there were 153,497 km of total roads. Only 1.8% were paved – 2763 miles.
B.
i. Agriculture needs to be expanded in the DRC. As people move from subsistence farming to commercial farming, food prices will decrease, malnutrition rates will go down and people can move into the cities to work in industry where they should make higher wages.
ii. Agriculture industry is underdeveloped. It needs further government support, improved infrastructure, and investment. Every form of infrastructure is underdeveloped. More roads and freshwater access are necessary. Agricultural capital is severely lacking. Small farmers need tools - such as tractors or plows, fertilizer, and irrigation - to make their land more productive. Paved roads will be necessary beyond that to allow for transport of surplus crops to market.
[1] http://www.our-africa.org/democratic-republic-of-congo/climate-agriculture
[2] http://www.usaid.gov/democratic-republic-congo/agriculture-and-food-security
[3] http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/20080917DRC_FanEn.pdf
[4] http://www.new-ag.info/en/country/profile.php?a=641
[5] http://www.afdb.org/en/
[6] http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI/