Congo Republic, May 2019
First CARD working week was held in Brazzaville, the Republic of Congo in May 2019
The first support mission to Congolese Rice development relaunch
The Republic of Congo is one of the 9 new member countries of the CARD initiative. As for all Coalition member countries, the CARD process begins with the development or revision of the NRDS by national staff, selected from the different state departments and non-state structures, whose complementary skills are valued within a Task Force. Congo does not yet have a rice development strategy. The country has already set up an NRDS Task Force, which is made up of members of the National Rice Development Committee (CNDR). Thus, a mission of the CARD Secretariat visited Congo from 19 to 24 May 2019 to assist the NRDS Task Force in the development of the NRDS. This is the first week of work as part of the initiative’s implementation process.
Mission objective and results
This first working week is the launch of the CARD process, and it aims to: (i) a good understanding of this process by national actors who are implementing it, (ii) to ensure that Taskforce members fully understand problems, constraints, and challenges of rice sector throughout the value chain and (iii) to lay the foundations for the Congo’s NRDS strategy (guidelines, plan, etc.).
Seminar on Rice Cultivation in the Congo Republic
A study on rice cultivation was conducted by JICA expert, Dr Sokei, with the assistance of the JICA DRC office. The seminar gathered officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fishery, led by the Director-General and other Ministries (Foreign Office, Ministry of Scientific research and Innovation). The seminar highlighted the need for capacity building for rice producers and reinforcement along the rice value chain to increase rice production and improve rice quality.
First Working week on NRDS development: This working week was held at the Meeting conference of MAEP, with the participation of 11 task force members. The results of this first week of work can be summarized as follows:
- Ministries’ staff involved in the CARD process are well aware of the CARD initiative, about CARD mandate and its operating modalities, as well as the limits and types of support that the Secretariat provides to CARD member countries.
- The process of developing the National Rice Development Strategy document is well initiated and owned by the Congolese NRDS Task Force.
- Capacities of national managers selected under the Task Force are strengthened in strategic planning and development of the rice value chain.
Meeting with officials or DPS
Mission met with the FAO Resident Representative in the presence of her staff. After CARD Technical Coordinator had made a clear and concise statement on what the CARD is, stating that FAO was a member of the CARD Steering Committee, FAO Representative wished to be informed of the progress of this process and expressed her willingness to support the rice development process, led by MAEP and implemented by Task Force.
Mission also met with the UNDP Resident Representative, with the presence of his deputy. Although UNDP has no longer been coordinating United Nations agencies since 2018, the Resident Representative, after being aware of the purpose of the mission and the CARD initiative, has also expressed his willingness to contribute, depending on the areas in which he is involved. The UNDP office in the Republic of Congo is working to support the craft sector and youth training, and there are opportunities for synergies between actions within the framework of the relaunching of the rice sector and those carried out by UNDP, which can be used to benefit Congolese rice.
Next steps of the process toward the objective
For the continuation of the rice development process, another workshop is planned and the task force agreed on the following actions to undertake: define challenges/issues of the NRDS, identify priority areas of action, define vision and objectives, and set up quantitative objectives and spatial planning (Seeds, Irrig/Pluv.,…..). It is expected to finalize the NRDS document strategy for the Republic of Congo before the end of this year, this document will be submitted to national actors, representing all entities and structures concerned in the Rice sector, for effective national ownership of this strategy and NRDS implementation.
This first working week was supported by JICA with the contribution of JICA staff from DRC during a seminar related to a rice cultivation study conducted by a JICA expert on rice from Cameroon.
