For “Le Mercredi de l’UCB” of this Wednesday, 26 February, 2020 at Institut Français de Bukavu, the debate revolved around the agricultural field with a well-chosen topic: “Agroecology, a reality or a utopia for Congolese farmers? Presented by Prof. Landry CIZUNGU NTABOBA, Dean of the Faculty of Agronomy at UCB.

In his presentation, the professor reminds us the importance of agriculture by indicating that it remains and will always remain one of the primordial branches of human activity because it nourishes humanity, and that it is therefore essential to the survival of the human being.

Considering Congolese agriculture, we observe on one hand the traditional sector where more than three million families are mainly involved in food crops and traditional livestock farming with rudimentary techniques and giving low yields, and on the other hand, modern farms: plantations of industrial and commercial crops and cattle.

Knowing that Congo must resort to imports to satisfy the internal demand for certain food products (corn, rice, wheat), it appears that one of the priority objectives of our country should be the increase of food production, and doing so will require not only new production techniques but also new agricultural inputs.

For more than twenty years, several networks have been experimenting and supporting an agriculture at the service of territories and producers, a sustainable, ecological agriculture, capable of feeding and employing men and women using very little inputs, and which tries to free itself from the dominant productionist model. Thousands of farmers in some countries have already chosen to move towards more economical and autonomous production systems, anticipating the political changes that have been implemented since environmental issues took place.

Agriculture has no other choice than to move towards practices that respect people and nature. It is confirmed by the successive economic crises of the agricultural sector and the ecological crises. If we want to keep both farmers in our lands and a healthy environment, it becomes urgent to change the agricultural model.

When the Congolese farmer still faces certain problems that have already been answered elsewhere. Should he favor the preservation of the environment, the quality of products or first of all the increase in production and think of the environment and the quality of product only when he has sufficiently filled his table. Two objectives that seem contradictory in the context of the Congolese farmer, yet imperative for the survival of the human being. Now certain questions of survival concern the daily life of the farmer to the point of not having in his daily life space for environmental questions.