“Build agricultural systems around ecological strengths”

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“Build agricultural systems around ecological strengths”

Stéphane Fouapou, agricultural engineer and certified SIYB (ILO) trainer.

18 Aug 2026 15:51

What are the food crops and livestock products where Congo has the greatest potential to replace imports within the next 5 years? The Republic of Congo possesses exceptional agro ecological poten tial, backed by abun dant rainfall, fertile soils, and extensive arable land. Within five years, the country can significantly reduce its heavy reliance on food imports by prioritizing cassava, a vital national staple that offers immense commercial opportu nities for high-quality flour, starch, and in dustrial processing. Beside it, one can cite maize, plantains and bananas. As for livestock, they can look towards poultry and aquaculture specifically tilapia and catfish farming. However, production remains largely manual. How can local agro-pas toral products become more competitive in price and quality compared to imported goods? Competitiveness begins long before a product arrives on a store shelf or market stall. To make local agro-pastoral products competitive, the pri mary focus must be on driving down farm-gate production costs by producing seeds, animal feed, and fertilizers locally. Investing in cold sto rage chains, warehouses and modern processing facilities reduces post-harvest losses and enables farmers to sell high value finished goods rather than raw commodities. Additionally, enforcing quality standards, product traceability and food safety certifications will build consumer trust. Upgrading transport links and connec ting producer cooperatives directly to urban buyers via digital platforms will establish the scale needed to compete with most imported goods What are the top two government or institutio&s...