Support Project for the Promotion of Agricultural Entrepreneurship and Food Security for Local Producers’ Organizations in the DRC

About the Project

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a $1.65 million grant will sustainably improve smallholder farmers’ income and food security affected by the COVID-19 and climate change crises, by supporting COPACO-PRP members in developing the cassava and maize value chains in five targeted agricultural production basins, suppliers of agricultural food products for the city of Kinshasa.

The project will do so by strengthening agricultural production and processing units and by developing a partnership with agricultural research institutions, financing institutions, and market sector actors. It will also enhance the capacity building of national and local producer organizations' leaders and support local PO entrepreneurship in developing the cassava and maize value chains and sector structuring.

The project will target five agricultural production basins of the DRC: Plateau de Batéké in Kinshasa, Kasongo-Lunda and Kenge in Kwango, Bulungu and Masi-Manimba in Kwilu and Muanda in Kongo Central. COPACO-PRP has chosen these five areas according to accessibility, a climate favorable to crop production, anticipated annual production volumes, and active local POs.

Building on lessons learned from former and ongoing projects, proposed activities support enhancing collective economic actions at the local PO level, while strengthening specific institutional and technical support capacities of the lead PO. This project primarily targets 20 active cassava and maize local POs, members of COPACO, to sustainably improve the income and livelihoods of 4,544 individual agricultural producers, of which 60% are women and 36% are youth.