Despite an exceptionally high deposit of natural resources, immense biodiversity and hydropower potential, the Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC) have the third-largest population living below poverty lines.

Internal conflict, economic downtimes and the global hike in fuel prices have sparked the worst inflation rates in DRC since the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, with the country’s central bank projecting the inflation rate in 2022 to be more or less than its 5.1 percent mark in 2021

On Thursday, the parliament of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) voted to remove the economy minister, Jean-Marie Kalumba, from his post. The parliament accused Kalumba of mismanaging the country’s fishing industry and enacting policies that worsened inflation rates in the country.

While it is reasonable to burden the economy minister with the duty of improving the country’s financial prospects, bearing in mind the socio-economic crisis in the country, would it be far from the truth to infer that factors beyond his control might have influenced some of his failures?

Agricultural Crisis in DRC

DRC is heavily reliant on the importation of staple food like corn flour from neighbouring Uganda, which has only recently ended a 3-year-long diplomatic standoff with Rwanda. While the border between both countries has now been opened to allow trade, insecurity on the roads cripples the transportation of food products, driving up the price of many essential goods and food products.

This issue lays bare a much larger crisis in the Congolese agricultural sector, as it questions why the country rich in significant arable land is unable to produce food that can sustain its citizens.

According to openly sourced data, DRC spends nearly $1.5 billion on food imports each year, and as the world is threatened by food shortages largely due to the Russian-Ukraine war, the DRC would likely spend more on food importation. So why can’t DRC plant its food?

Sadly the country’s agricultural sector is constantly threatened by major obstacles like corruption, internal crisis, as well as archaic farming practices. As of the time of this report, farmers are only able to cultivate a little over 25 million of the nation’s 198 million acres of fertile land.

Terrorism is probably the principal hindrance to farming in DR Congo. Constant attacks from rebel groups have caused millions of people to leave, and despite dwindling rebel attacks in some regions, people are still sceptical to return to their homes.

Sociology experts have blamed corrupt individuals in power for the lingering terrorist attacks. It is believed that these individuals finance the rebel groups to continue insecurity to allow them to maintain control over natural resources, especially in the eastern part of DR Congo.

So far, at least 5 million people, who are majorly farmers, have abandoned their homes and farms, due to recurring attacks by rebel groups over the last few years in eastern DRC. A recent attack by the M23 rebel group saw the displacement of over 6,000 people.

Farmers in DR Congo also practice family farming, a farming method that has farmers plant crop quantities for their families’ consumption alone rather than for large scale commercial purposes. This system limits the quantity of food product that is harvested, causing the continued reliance on imported food products.

Despite these multiple challenges, the National Agency for the Promotion of Investments posits that DRC’s abundant fertile soil, tropical climate and other advantages would allow it to feed 2 billion people through intensive farming. Hopefully, the new policies to be implemented by the parliament in the coming week would target the sector with the most potential to improve the country’s flagging economy.