Congo has 10 million hectares of arable land of which only 2% are exploited, meaning there are still plenty millions of hectares of fertile agricultural land available for professional farming. During the GrowCongo! Forum you will get informed about the myriad business opportunities that exist in the Republic of Congo’s agriculture sector, which employs about 40% of the labour force.
Food imports are growing in volume and value. They were of 120 billion AFCF in 2009 and reached 300 billion AFCF in 2013, peaking at 600 billion AFCF (Euro 1 million) in 2016. If no adequate and vigorous measures are taken, Congo will remain a net importer of all consumer goods. This is where the GrowCongo! Forum comes in. During the Forum, the Government of the Republic of Congo wants to meet with large agricultural companies that are interested in operating in Congo. At the same time, GrowCongo! aims to bring together International Finance Institutions (IFI’s), Commercial Banks and Investment Funds (Venture Capital and Private Equity) that are capable of financing the agricultural transformation of the Republic of Congo.
The Government of Congo has just adopted a new reference framework. This new national development plan for 2018-2022 is in line with the previous one, especially in regards to the diversification of the economy through the operationalization of the cluster strategy, with a special place reserved for agriculture and agro-industry. It also aims to respond to the concerns expressed by the President of the Republic in the framework of his social project “The March Towards Development”.
Thus, in a proactive approach, the Government of the Republic of Congo has set quantitative and qualitative objectives for the Ministry in charge of Agriculture, concerning the sector of agriculture, the food chain and agro-industry (including livestock, fisheries, aquaculture and land). These goals target food and nutrition security by 2020 and food self-sufficiency by 2022. Do you want to be part of this African success story? Then join the GrowCongo! Forum on February 25th in Amsterdam!