Questions de développement ...

The Democratic Republic of Congo plans to lease farmland covering an area larger than France in an attempt to attract capital and technology capable of boosting jobs and food productivity in one of the world’s poorest countries.

African agriculture faces the challenges of feeding a growing population, eradicating poverty and food insecurity, responding to the climate crisis and ensuring environmental sustainability. To address these challenges investment is needed to reinforce local food systems and to enhance smallholders’ food production, strengthen their resilience, increase their revenues and support their own investments – which constitute the bulk of all thosemade. Key questions are: what production systems and products to support? Which markets to target? Who should benefit?

Africa currently imports almost 40 billion dollars worth of food a year, but it should implement measures to attract private sector investment in agriculture in order to reduce its food import bill and increase its self-reliance, experts in the sector tell IPS.