Context
The development of the DRC's vast agricultural potential is an important focus for its economic development and food security, and must be carried out in conjunction with preservation of the forest and its biodiversity.
Agriculture is the primary source of income and employment for 75 percent of the Congolese people, but productivity is low due to the lack of private and public investment and weaknesses in the areas of land rights, economic and distribution infrastructure, the agricultural training system, and governance.
Today’s family farms represent the majority of the productive sector, but these production practices take place outside formal structures.
To reverse these trends, the Programme for the sustainable development of savannahs and degraded forests (PSFD) aims to guide agricultural development towards degraded savannahs and forests to ensure food security without extending production to high carbon forest areas.
The programme combines dissemination of sustainable agricultural practices, consolidation of financing systems to support farmers, and partial restoration of forest cover. It will establish models of technical and financial services that are relevant, affordable and sustainable.
National partner: this programme is part of the portfolio of the DRC National REDD+ Fund and is led by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestocks and Fisheries
Implementing partner: French Development Agency
*This programme is in its inception phase. All financial information for this programme may be found on the MPTF Gateway here.
dollars approved in December 2019
dollars transferred in February 2020
dollar spent by December 2022
hectares to be planted or restored
tons of CO2 emission reduction anticipated
farmers and small enterprises to be supported
Objectives
The PSDF aims to improve the services available to farmers and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to develop degraded savannah lands and forests by:
- Supporting the implementation of on-farm advisory systems;
- Supporting the development of financing tools for farms and agricultural SMEs;
- Defining actions and intervention mechanisms that can be reproduced in all provinces.
Anticipated results
- 7,000 ha of agro-forestry crops and 5,000 ha of perennial crops planted in the savannah
- 14 000 ha of degraded forest land and savannah regenerated
- 7,000 farms and agricultural SMEs will have access to innovative agro-forestry and agro-ecological itineraries, to advisory systems that enable them to transform their degraded savannah and forest lands, and to an adapted financing offer
- Financial institutions’ capacities are strengthened: 40 employees of microfinance institutions and banks will benefit from new training courses that are adapted to farms and agricultural SMEs
- 60 productive alliances will receive support (groups of farms and agricultural SMEs associated with a private operator/Organization of Agricultural Producers (OPA) and other actors in the value chain) and will submit projects to microfinance institutions (32 of them will benefit from subsidies)
- $6 million will be granted to family farms and $2.8 million to economic operators of productive alliances
- 10 innovation projects will benefit from grants totaling $800,000 to broaden the scope of economically and socially viable solutions to help (re)develop degraded savannahs and forests,
- Actions and mechanisms implemented by the programme will be carried over to the other provinces, benefiting 30 OPAs and other economic actors in the sectors.
Areas of intervention
The provinces of Kwilu and Tshopo were chosen as pilot areas for their degraded landscapes, respectively savannah and forest, and their location on the periphery of the consumption centres. Changes in forest cover will be monitored in these areas
Synergies
The programme contributes to the achievement of milestone 2018 c, related to Agriculture, in the 2016 Letter of Intent signed between the DRC and CAFI. Two independent verifications of these milestones were undertaken (please read the report available here). Two independent verifications of these milestones were undertaken (please read the report available here).
It works closely with the Sustainable Agriculture Management Programme, the Sustainable Forest Management Programme and the National Forest Monitoring System Programme, to provide support to national policy reforms in agriculture, energy, forestry, land use planning and land tenure. The PSDF also works in collaboration with multi-sectoral provincial programs in Kwilu and Tshopo to enrich the studies of deforestation drivers and support natural resource management, and agroeconomic and agroforestry