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Agricultural Change in the Belgian Congo: 1945-1960 139 V. DRACHOUSSOPP* AGRICULTURAL CHANGE IN THE BELGIAN CONGO: 1945-196ott 1. INTRODUCTION The Republic of the Congo, with an area exceeding 890 thousand square miles, is one of the world's largest nations situated within the tropics. It extends from about 5° N. to 13° S.latitude and from 13° to 31 ° E.longitude (Map 1). Relief.-The center of the country has the form of a basin, ranging from 1,100 to 1,600 feet in elevation, and stretching out on both sides of the Congo River. This Central Basin is fringed by peripheral plateaus differing considerably in aspect and elevation: to the west the Crystal Mountains and the massif of the Cataracts (2,500 to 3,100 feet), to the south the Kwango, Kasai, and Katanga plateaus (3,000 to 5,900 feet), and to the north the plateaus of the Uele and Ubangi (2,300 to 3,300 feet). On the east is a plateau sloping westward from the Mitumba Mountains, beyond which lies the chain of great lakes on the Congolese border-Albert, Edward, Kivu, Tanganyika. The lakes lie in a gigantic rift (Graben) between the Mitumba chain and mountains on the western borders of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanganyika. Peaks well above 10,000 feet rise on either side of the rift; the highest are the Ruwenzori Mountains (16,800 feet) north of Lake Albert. Volcanic formations, some extinct and others still active, occur north of Lake Kivu. Hydrography.-Nearly all the Congo's territory is drained by the Congo River, nearly 3,000 miles in length and discharging on the average 40,000 cubic meters per second. With its course and its tributaries extending over great dis­ tances on both sides of the Equator, the Congo has a remarkably regular flow; the relation between the minimum and maximum flow is 1:3 in contrast with a ratio of 1 :20 for the Mississippi. The navigable network of the Congo and its tributaries, divided into four • Translated by Bruce F. Johnston. The author, Mr. Drachoussoff, formerly Director of Agriculture in Leopoldville Province in the Congo, is Director of the Societ6 d'Etudes Agronomiques et de Realisations, "AGRER," Brussels. 'I' This is the fifth of a series of studies of agricultural achievement in the countries of tropical Africa during the fifteen years following the end of World War II. Special thanks are due Miss Rosa­ mond H. Peirce for her review of the statistical information and to Dr. M. K. Bennett for his editing of the manuscript. Grateful acknowledgement is made to the Carnegie Corporation of New York for a grant to the Food Research Institute of funds which made these studies possible. The Corporation is not, however, the publisher or proprietor of this publication and is not to be understood as approv­ ing by virtue of its grant any of the statements made or views expressed herein. :I: A table of contents is given on p. 201. 138 V. DRACHOUSSOFF 14 10 30 4 CONGO TRANSPORT NET. PROVINCES, o AND DISTRICTS o -==- Mai", ~04eU ........... Ila.il Hl4 y.1 ---.-. Na",t.~ahlc wa.t.rW4!J4 PrQllinci4L boun.aari'4 a4 of 1960 or,--,""Tdo,-----:zb'"'o----:"I"Jo MlLE6 12 12 Tran,port net bOled on W. A. Hance I 2. !:.!.E1!.0td"ill~ Province Oriental Province K-atan!la. Province I 8a..s Con~o lJid t ric t 10 St4nleyville /);str,ct 17 Upper K.a.tan~a District 2 Cal:o.rAct .. II Lower Vele 18 L(l.4["'64 • 5 K.wan!Jo 12 Upper Uete 19 Upper Loma-tn' 4 K.wilu 13ltu.ri. 20 Tan..!la.nyika. ~ L. Leopolda· g'lua..tor Provinc6 Kivu Provin.ce K.a.sa.i Provin.ce 6 Equator Di4 tric t 14 Ma.n-i.em-a. /)t&iri.ct 21 Lulua. Di4trici 7 Uban..!Ii Ie North. K.tvu 22 K..a.4a.i 8 Mon..$ata. 18 South. "ivu. 2'3 Sa.n/c..u.ru ,. 9T&huapa. 24 Kab.nd4 • MAPl major reaches by rapids but connected by rail, is more than 8,700 miles in length, not counting the lakes. Some 1,750 miles are navigable by barges of more than 800 tons. Climate.-The Congo lies wholly within the zone of warm climates and is characterized by an average annual temperature ranging at the highest from 77 0 to 79° F. in the central basin to a few degrees cooler on the peripheries, where altitude moderates the climate and lowers the temperature. Diurnal vari­ ations are moderate at the Equator and more marked in the south, particularly in Katanga. For the most part, the climate of the Congo is more easily tolerated by Euro­ peans than that of other tropical regions in Africa, such as the areas bordering AGRICULTURAL CHANGE IN THE BELGIAN CONGO: 1945-1960 139 h~~~~1 - 40" _ 40-48" b:::":;1 48-56~ _ 56-64' _ 64-72" _ 72-80" ~ +80' ANNUAL RAINFALL (INCHES) Based on F. Bullo! MAP2 the Gulf of Guinea or the Indian Ocean; but it is nevertheless a rather difficult climate for those habituated to a temperate region, and it is not conducive to heavy labor. Apart from a few localities of high elevation, the country is free of frost so that the rainfall regime is the decisive factor for agriculture. On both sides of the Equator in the Central Basin is a zone where the rainy season is nearly con­ tinuous through the year with two periods of maximum precipitation. The heaviest rainfall (more than 80 inches per year at low altitude) is to be found in the region of Boende, in the interior of the loop traced by the Congo River around the Central Basin (Map 2). North and south of the Equator are to be found two zones tropical in climate but with a dry season that increases in length with distance from the Equator; in the Katanga this dry season exceeds six months (Map 3). Total annual rain­ fall is as low as 40 inches and even less where the Congo reaches the Atlantic and in central Katanga. A particularly rainy zone covers the western slopes of the Kivu Mountains, where the annual average exceeds 85 inches. Except in the districts with the highest elevations, where temperature be­ comes a limiting factor, the Congolese climate is generally suitable for agricul­ ture. Nevertheless, irregularity of rainfall in the regions lying at some distance 140 V. DRACHOUSSOFF 80 I 0 LENGTH or DRY SEASON (PAYS) 12 .... Based on F. BullO! MAP 3 from the Equator increases the agricultural risks, and during the relatively long dry season farming activity is negligible. Vegetation.-The vegetation of the Congo is divided, broadly speaking, into forest and savanna but includes a variety of vegetation zones, as shown in Map 4. The forest areas, the most extensive in Africa, include the great equatorial rain forest on dry land and in swamps, the tropical forest of Mayombe far west near the Atlantic, the great gallery forest north and south of the Central Basin, the mountain forest of Kivu, and the dry savanna forests of Kwango and Katanga. The origin of the savannas south of the equatorial forest regions where the natural vegetation would clearly be climax forest is a subject of lively contro­ versy. They probably result chiefly from variation of climate in the course of time and the effects of human action in clearing and burning the natural cover. Soil.-The soils of the Congo are generally poor, even those under equatorial forest, but they can give excellent yields when they are managed rationally and moisture supplies are adequate. Certain regions, however, contain stretches of very fertile land: the alluvial and colluvial formations on calcareous schists (the Cataracts and South Kasai); certain red soils of the plateaus (Uele and Ubangi); the immature soils on basic rock (Mayombe, !turi); and the volcanic soils of Kivu. By contrast, the aeolian sands of South Kwango are virtually sterile.1 1 See 1, p. 29, for a provisional soil map of the Congo. AGRICULTURAL CHANGE IN THE BELGIAN CONGO: 1945-1960 141 ZONES Ilip>;;;1 Equatorial forest D In swamp lands tfeJ In mixed swamp and firm lands IllJI[[] Forest interspersed with savannas F=:=1 Mainly savannas; some woods and gallery forests ~ Savanna woodlands; some savanna grasses (Alter Ouvipeaud et al.) [[[[] Steppe on high plateaus _ Montane savanna and wooded savanna I .. I Montane forests ..Transition forests MAP4 Reproduced from W. A. Hance, The Geography of Modern Africa (Columbia University Press, New York and London, 1964), p. 309. Clearing carried out thoughtlessly and bad cultural practices lead rapidly to deterioration of soil fertility; and the effects of climate may render this process irreversible. Population.-As of the end of 1959, the indigenous population of the Congo was enumerated as 13,864,421, of which 78 per cent were living in traditional rural environments (milieu coutumier). The Bantu-speaking ethnic groups oc­ cupy the bulk of the Central Basin as well as its western, southern, and south­ eastern peripheries. The north and northeast of the country are occupied by Sudanic and Nilotic populations. Pygmy or pygmoid tribes live in scattered parts of the Central Basin and in the Ituri District. Arabized villages are encountered in the regions formerly occupied by Arabs in Maniema District and near Stan­ leyville. The population of European origin at the end of 1959 amounted to 115,157. This number included 1,900 agricultural settlers and a larger number of agri­ cultural technicians working in the administration, with INEAC (Institut Na- 142 V.
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