On the basis of the historic commitment made by the Government of the Republic of Congo to guide agricultural development in savannah areas and to promote climate-smart agriculture concerned with the preservation of the forest cover, the CAFI Initiative, which brings together a group of donors (Like Germany, France, Norway, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, South Korea and the European Union), has decided to support the Government in achieving its ambitions and implementing the Letter of Intent signed by Presidents Denis Sassou-Nguesso and Emmanuel Macron on behalf of CAFI for an initial amount of USD 65 million.

A first envelope of 15 million is directly allocated to the agricultural sector, in order to support the
Government in:

– the identification of a national agricultural estate and state land reserves for large-scale investment,

– experimentation and development of technical itineraries adapted to savannah and degraded forest areas,

– the establishment of innovative financing systems and

– experimentation with traceability systems attesting to a “zero-deforestation” origin of agricultural commodities.

Additional funding of USD 10 million is earmarked to support national land use planning for the establishment of an intersectoral and inclusive spatial planning process aimed at securing investments and providing concrete solutions to land-use conflicts.

CAFI is committed to supporting the Government in mobilizing additional resources for the promotion of environmentally friendly agriculture and the preservation of forest resources and invites all technical and financial partners to join their efforts to support the Republic of the Congo in implementing the ambitious commitments made in the Letter of Intent signed with CAFI.