Kinshasa, April 28th, 2025 (CPA),- The deplorable state of the ‘Pilot inoculum production unit for legumes’ (UPIL) laboratory was discussed on Saturday, when it was presented at an ‘open day’ workshop organized in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo by the National Service for fertilizers and inputs legumes (Senafic). ‘We wanted to present the laboratory ‘Pilot inoculum production unit for legumes ‘’ (UPIL) so that the public could see its deplorable state and examine how we can rehabilitate it in order to let the public know about the inoculum that is recommended for the legumes manufactured within this laboratory,’ said Kayowa Tshamazaba Miphy, director and head of services at Senafic. ‘And we wanted with the partners to see how we can work together for local production, which is very crucial for the Democratic Republic of Congo. We’d like to have the labs on a larger scale. And why not even in 3, 4, 5 provinces?’ she said, before adding that, ’if we always have to wait for inputs that are produced elsewhere, it takes us a lot longer. And we don’t always know how viable they are’, she added, before complaining to the government about the poor state of the laboratory. She said that her department had been out of action for a year and a half, and that she had made every effort to get it up and running again. However, in view of the images, the lab will really be of the right standard. According to Mrs Kayowa Tshamazaba Miphy, if the Congolese government supports the inoculum we have, the department can also bring in other equipment to have strains that are specific to Senafic. For his part, the Acting Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture explained the importance of this ‘open day’. ‘As the National Service for Fertilisers and Related Inputs (Senafic), we have come here to send out a message about the existence of a laboratory called the Legume Inoculum Production Unit (UPIL), which meets the standards in terms of personnel, equipment and materials to guarantee trade and food safety’, he said.
‘If you want tomorrow’s agriculture to rise to the challenge of development, you have to support or finance the laboratory,’ he added. Today is a day for reflection and sharing on soybean growing, which is considered to be a crop of hope’. Jean Leroy, representative of the Belgian Agency for Development (Enabel), traced the history of the creation of the UPIL laboratory, pointing out that this pilot inoculum production unit for legumes (UPIL) of the National Service for Fertilizers and Related Inputs (SENAFIC) is a long-standing story. ‘We just had to point out that it already has a history with Belgium, since it was the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that supported this lab with funding from the Belgian Embassy,’ says Jean Leroy, representing Enabel. ‘It is also an opportunity for us, the Belgian Development Agency (Enabel), to continue what we started some forty years ago. It’s a system that allows for the inoculation of local added value, through a manufacturing process that is not imported, with the current Enabel programworking operationally in five provinces, and which aims to improve the performance of agri-food systems and archaeological practices’, he concluded.
Some recommendations
The workshop participants made a number of recommendations to ensure that the laboratory runs smoothly. These included rehabilitating the UPIL laboratory, disseminating inoculum to farmers, building the capacity of agents, drafting laws to regulate inputs and fertilizers, and depolarizing the management of input and fertilizer services and distribution. The workshop was organized by SENAFIC, a sub-department of the Ministry of Agriculture, funded by the Belgian Agency for Development (Enabel).