Bunia, April 26th, 2021 (CPA).- The workshop on the popularization of the collection of legal texts on food security in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by the Diocesan Justice and Peace Commission (CDJP) of the diocese of Bunia starts this Monday, in Bunia, capital of Ituri province, in the meeting room of the Casa Sir Henri hotel, thanks to the technical and financial support of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. According to the coordinator of the CDJP, Abbot Chysanthe Ngabu, this forum has three main objectives, namely, to remind the existence and importance of legal texts in the agricultural sector in public opinion and among researchers, to challenge decision-makers both on their relevance, the antiquity of the elements of their content and lead the various actors to consider these legal texts as a basis and precondition for the establishment of good early warning systems against food crises.
For four days, from April 26th to 29th, 2021, he said, thirty-five participants from civil society, political actors, power, the opposition as well as civil servants, agronomic researchers and the farmers will be edified through several themes which will be developed by the speakers among others, « overview of legal texts relating to fishing », « overview of international texts relating to food security », « the contribution of mass media for security in Ituri province ”,“ advocacy for sustainable agriculture in Ituri ”,“ the thirteen principles of good governance applicable in food security ”. The agricultural potential of the DRC, notes the source, is unanimously recognized as being considerable, the country would have a cultivable area estimated at some 80 million hectares of which only less than 10 million hectares would be developed.
“If these expanses of arable land make it a vast agricultural country by contrast, it still ranks among countries with a deficit in agriculture and food security. Also, for several decades, the country has not had an agricultural policy supported by legislation likely to boost the development of this sector, ”indicates the same source. Also to change the situation, considers Abbot Chysanthe Ngabu, many agricultural development plans and programs have been formulated since the country’s independence and most often with the help of international financial partners. The study of the agricultural sector conducted in 2009 by TECSULT AECOM lists no less than 22 plans. As for legislation, he stressed, the country has long been deprived of an up-to-date legislative instrument governing this sector according to modern principles. It was not until 2011 that the DRC enacted its first agricultural law, Law N ° 011/020 of December 24, 2011 on principles relating to agriculture. With the aim of highlighting the different legal texts that govern the agricultural sector in the country, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation within the framework of the project “One world without hunger” funded by the German Ministry of Development Cooperation, asked the DELT-AUGUST cabinet to develop a collection of legal texts on food safety in the DRC, we inform.