Deal #4432

Congo, Dem. Rep.
Created at
2014-08-14
Last update
2022-12-23
Last full update
2022-12-23

Land area

Intended size
80 000 ha
Size under contract (leased or purchased area)
  • [2014-09, current] 80000 ha
Size in operation (production)
  • [2014-09] 1200 ha
  • [2021, current] 1500 ha
Comment on land area
10000 hectares to be planted by January 2015. 1000ha of vegetables will be grown in 2015. The first phase of the Agricultural Business Park is focused on basic crop production. The Park covers 75,000 hectares of arable land

Intention of investment

Intention of investment
  • [2014-09, current] Food crops, Livestock (80000 ha)
Comment on intention of investment
Production of food crops and livestock

Nature of the deal

Nature of the deal
Lease

Negotiation status

Negotiation status
  • [2014-02, current] Concluded (Contract signed)
Comment on negotiation status
February 2014. The government has spent $83 million setting up Bukanga Lonzo, where South African firm Mozfood & Energy carried out feasibility studies and a South African consortium called Africom has been handed the management contract

Implementation status

Implementation status
  • [2014] In operation (production)
  • [2017] Project abandoned
  • [2020-08, current] In operation (production)
Comment on implementation status
"The pilot had collapsed. Activity on site ground to a halt after the South African company brought in as a co-investor left stating that it hadn’t been paid by the Congolese government in nearly a year. The minister blamed the South African company that had managed the park and said it had left “in bad faith.” He added that the government plans to re-launch the park with a focus on livestock." There are now reports that Africom was involved in an embezzlement scheme with some government officials. Project re-launched in 2020.In June 2021, Congo's Senate rejected a request by prosecutors to lift former Prime Minister Matata Ponyo Mapon's immunity so they could indict him for his role in a failed agriculture project in which investigators say $200 million disappeared. Of the $ 285 million injected into the project by the Treasury, the IGP estimates that $ 205 million were misappropriated with the responsibility of Mr. Matata Ponyo.

Contract farming

Contract farming
Yes
On leased / purchased
Yes
Comment on contract farming
Local farmers are involved in the project and receive coupons for their input materials. It is not clear how many farmers will be involved or the size they will plant.