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COMPANIES AND MARKETS TIMBER AND AGRO-INDUSTRY
sector is recovering: output stood at 8,000 tonnes in 2012 (104,000 tonnes in 1988). The cultivation of tea, once very developed in Nord-Kivu, and cocoa, in Équateur and Orientale Province, has nearly disappeared. Of all of the companies that produced cotton and ginned cottonseed in the late 1990s, only the Société textile de Kisangani (Sotexki) still exists.
AGRO-INDUSTRIES ARE ALMOST NON-EXISTANT
F!rmers still "se r"dime#t!ry meth$ds t$ gr$w f$$d.
5% of arable land is farmed
plantations and to breathe new life into old State plantations in partnership with private companies are under consideration. Armed conflicts and lack of maintenance have cut coffee production (Robusta in Orientale Province and Arabica in Nord-Kivu and Sud-Kivu), but the
Agro-industrial processing is limited to a handful of products. The Compagnie sucrière de Kwilu Ngongo, in Bas-Congo, refines sugar and Marsavco and Novaproducts make palm oil soap. A few mills, including Mukalayi and African Milling in Katanga, produce corn flour and Midema makes wheat flour (155,000 tonnes in 2012) in BasCongo. A few small units make fruit juice and soap. ■
THE 2011 FARM LAW IS ROCKING AGRICULTURE Enacted on 24 December 2011, the law on general agricultural principles in DR Congo, a first in the country, features some interesting innovations, such as the creation of an agricultural development fund and its management in synergy with banking and non-banking financial institutions. It also calls for professionals' involvement in the decision-making process and for compliance with international environmental protection standards. The law sets access to farmland and provides for the establishment of a conciliation procedure prior to any legal action over land conflicts. Farms are divided into three categories: individual, family (using contract labour) and industrial. Contested by foreign investors, Article 16, which set the amount of shares owned by the State or nationals at a minimum of 51%, is being revised.
INVESTING DR CONGO 2013