Faced with the corn shortage affecting the areas of Katanga and Kasaï in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the national deputy Jean-Jacques Mpanga wa Lukalaba calls on the Minister of Agriculture to find out more about the measures taken to remedy this situation. Indeed, the conclusions of the 95th meeting of the Council of Ministers indicate that the low national production is the main cause of this shortage of maize flour.
The MP thus requests access to corn consumption and production statistics in the two areas and questions the Minister on the level of implementation of the measures recommended in the Government’s Action Program 2021-2023.
The MP is also critical of the import of maize with Zambia and South Africa. He believes that this path is ephemeral and that exporting countries can, at any time, take restrictive measures to guarantee the food security of their populations. The Democratic Republic of Congo, with its 80 million hectares of arable land, should rely on its own agricultural production to avoid dependence on other countries.
Agriculture being the keystone of a country’s development, it is essential for the Democratic Republic of Congo to promote its own food self-sufficiency in order to fight against poverty and ensure the right to food security of its citizens.
The food situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo is worrying. The authorities must therefore put in place ambitious agricultural policies to allow the development of the sector and thus face the current food challenges.