CCOPERATIVE AGREEMENT ON HUMAN SETTLEMENTS
AND NATURAL RESOURCE SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
DOCUMENTS REVIEW
AREA FOOD AND MARKETI C; DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
Zaire
Richard Downs Cyril K. Daddich
Clark University Institute for Development Anthropology International Development Program Suite 302. P.O. Box 818 950 Main Street 99 Collier Street Wo-cester, MA 01610 Binghamton. NY 13902 DOCUMENTS REVIEW
AREIA FOOD AND MARKETING DEVELOPMlENT PROJECT, ZAIRE
Richard Downs Cyril K. Daddieh
Cooperative Agreement in Human Settlement and Natural Resource Systems Analysis
October, 1985 PREFACE
This report presents reviews of materials available in Kinshasa relevant to AID Project No. 660-0102 on Agricultural Production and Marketing in the region of Bandundu. The purpose of the reviews by Richard Downs (anthropolo gist, University of New Hampshire, and Cyril Daddieh (economist, University of Iowa) was to inventory available information so as to support a possible future project in Bandundu Region focusing upon rural-urban dynamics. In earlier dis cussions with USAID/Kinshasa staff, the notion was conveyed that, in the con text of Project 102, what is now needed is a better understanding of the rural urban relationships and the dynamics among the four large towns (as well as with the largest city, Kikwit) and between the towns and the agricultural areas of tiie region. It was felt that before appropriate interventions are put in place, studies of their impacts upon the rural-urban dynamic would greatly strengthen any benefits of the investments.
Professors Downs and Daddieh spent one month in Kinshasa reviewing docu ments and visiting several rural villages. In their reports, they summarize the informational content of the material, and they offer their impressions of the context of rural society within which a possible development program based upon rural-urban issues might be undertaken. In summary, their reports high light the fact that thtre is a dearth of reliable information and virtually no data with which to put forward actionable programs, such that planners may reliably assess the impact of investment projects. The only reliable source of information is a small farmer household survey, which has been recently com pleted (it arrived in Kinshasa on the eve of the team's departure). Clearly, then, there is a dire need for specific data to permit Project 102 planners to more carefully program the location and structure of investments so that maxi mum benefits are accrued.
G. Karaska Clark University DOCUMENTS REVIEW
Area Food and Marketing Development Project, 660-0102
Prepared by Richard Downs
In order to understand the nature and significance of rural-urban linkages in Bandundu Region envisaged by project 660-0102 it is necessary to see them, to the extent possible, in the total context within which they operate. I will, therefore, first summarize what appear to be the most salient facts in that context before making suggestions as to the kinds of interventions and research which seem most essential.
Physical environment.
There is a uniformly hot and humid climate (ave. annual temperature of
25 c., annual rainfall between 1500 and 1600 mm), with a three-month dry season from June to September and a short one from January to February. Most of the region consists of plateau savanna cut by numerous rivers and streams running soutli to north into the Kasai River, creating steep valleys where forest and relatively fertile soils are found. Elevations decreae gradually from about
700 m in the south to about 300 m along the Kasai River. The soils consist either of Kalahari or Karroo sands and are basically low in fertility, though more clay is found in some of the more northerly regions and the forest cover provides more vegetal matter. At one time the whole was apparently forested, but by the early 1960's forest covered 37.5 percent of the surface of Kwilu sub-region (#49: 78) and it was disappearing at a good rate. No figure could be found for the present forest cover, but Holtzman reports (#24: 5) that
.. . cultivated land as a proportion of total land area in Idiofa Zone increased from 1.4 percent in 1970 to 13.1 percent in 1981 and 29.9 percent in 2.
1982," which suggests the rapidity of its destruction. The region is
furthermore not blessed (or cursed) with any known mineral resources.
Population
The population of the project area, including the collectivities of Kemba
and Batere north of the Kasai, amounted to some 850,000 in 1982. With a total 2 area of 32,000 km , it has an average density of 26.6 km2 , though densities
vary from 11.9 to 70.6. This makes it, along with some regions of Kivu, one of
the most densely populated areas of Zaire. There are three towns within the
area: Bulungu, with a population of 45,000 and Idiofa and Dibaya-Lubwe, with
about 22,000 each. Just outside the area there are the major regional center
of Kikwit, with some 156,000, Bandundu, the regional capital, with 104,000, and
Bagata with some 9,000. It should be added that these towns have a substantial
agricultural base.
The people are divided into some fourteen different ethnic groups speaking
separate languages, which, however, fall into two language families of northern
and southern origins. Two lingia franca, Kikongo and Lingala, are also spoken.
All of the peoples below the Kasai River are organized into matrilineal clans
and lineages which once tended to occupy separate villages until many were con
solidated together by the Belgians in the 1920's to combat sleeping sickness and for administrative convenience. Present villages range in size from 20 to well over 1,000.
The population is young, 53 percent female, and growing at a rate of possibly 3 percent a year. There is 3 significant rural exodus, chiefly of young men, which is only partially compensated for by reverse migration. 3. Communications.
The area is connected to Kinshasa by river, but barge traffic is irregu
lar, slow, and highly insecure. By road it is linked to Kinshasa by the paved
road between it and Kikwit, but it is also connected by dirt road to Tshikapa
to the southeast. Internally there are many dirt roads which vary considerably
in condition, depending primarily on whether or not they are maintained by
private contractors. Many are impractical in the rainy season owing to the
ravages of heavy trucks and broken bridges.
Commercial transport is in the hands primarily of city-based merchants.
There is bus service, however, both private and state, between Kikwit and
Kinshasa.
There are serious problems for villagers in attempting to sell their pro duce because of the remoteness of some of their villages, the irregularity of purchases bytraders, low prices, and lack of storage.
Government officials at the collectivity level are, furthermore, severely handicapped by a total lack of vehicles available to them.
Telecommunication services are non-existent.
Socio-political system.
The political system is a combination of a national administrative struc ture, with regions, sub-regions, zones, "collectivit~s,. "groupeme[its," and
"localits" superimposed on a traditional clan-based structure, which extends upward i; far as the "chef de groupement." Within the "localit6" or village there is normally a "conseil de notables," consisting of all the "chefs de clan," one of which will be recognized by the "Chef de Collectivit6" as representing the village. He will be assisted by a kapita, a position created by the Belgians, who is also appointed. The "chefs de clan" will have control 4. over clan land and whatever other property, such as cattle, their clans may
own.
The "collectiviti" collects taxes and is responsible for carrying out
orders and regulations emanating from above, providing for various services, promoting development, and maintaining order. The extent to which they can and
do carry out these responsibilities varies considerably.
As mentioned above, people are divided into matrilineal descent groups of various sizes: clans, lineages, and localized sub-lineages, for example, among the Bapende. At least at the lineage level these groups are exogamous, but the
degree of corporateness and control that they exercise over their members
varies considerably among the different ethnic groups. Marriage, once under
lineage or clan control, now seems to be more a function of individual inter
ests and passions, and marital residence varies again according to circum
stances. In one Basoigo village, for example, it was said that a man could stay with his father after he married until his father died, at which time he would have tj move to his mother's brother's village, where as a clan member he would have a right to its land. However, particular circumstances could dic
tate such a move much earlier.
There also seems to be a shift toward increasing recognition of the inter ests of the father as opposed to those of the mother's brother, as in the case of marriage payments. Whereas it was said that traditionally a bride's mothe2 's brother and father would share the payment equally, now the former would get 300 zaires, whereas the latter would get as much as 7,000. Curiously enough, however, the mother's brother i: rpoonsible for the whole payment in case of divorce. 5.
In 1963 Nicolai mentions a once characteristic, but by then less signifi cant, distinction between slaves and free men. One would likp to know how important this might be now and in what circumstances. Th2 same applies to the apparently once frequent presence of age classes.
Production system.
With the exception of palm nuts, coffee, and irrigated rice, the latter two of which are relative.ly rare in most areas, the normal system of cultiva tion is slash and burn, with ever declining fallow periods. At the turn of the century twenty years was supposedly the norm; by the early 1960's it was around ten years; and now it is three to five years. Yields have declined accord ingly. One man said that even a forest field left for eight years produced little. The reasons tor this would appear to be not only increasing population pressure, but also perhaps the consolidation of scattered small villages into larger ones by the belgians, and most particularly the continued burning that takes place during fallow periods, either for the hunt or from carelessness.
According to Nicolai, people in Kwilu make no attempt when burning the forest to protect areas with valuable trees or former village sites from the fire so that they could form nuclei of forest regeneration.
There is a traditional sexual division of labor whereby the men do the hunting and clearing of the forest and the women do all the cultivating. This is beginning to break do.n with the decline in forest lands available and the pressure to grow more crops for sale. Both men and women may cultivate food crops together, whereas men tend to do all the work on such purely cash crops as coffee.
Traditionally, any couple could choose to cultivate any land belonging to the husband's clan, with men deciding on forest lands and their wives choosing 6.
the savanna fields. In one poor village, however, it was said that forest land was so poor and so scarce that anyone in the village (which had seven clans)
could cultivate wherever they could find a suitable plot. Only in urban areas
is there evidence that land may be sharecropped or rented.
Decisions are also complicated by a law requiring certain minimum areas of
cultivation. This is enforced by the extension agents, who assign land to some
of the villagers. This arouses resentment among the villagers, because if
nothing else, in the words of one chef de terre, it threatens their reserves of
forest land.
The dominant crop is bitter manioc, which, however, may be intercropped
with others such as peanuts, corn, squash, voandzu, rice, tomatoes, and yams.
illet and sorghum, which used to.be more widespread among some grcups, have
almost disappeared. Manioc, however, tends to be both the prime subsistence
food and cash crop.
There would seem to be a considerable number of cattle in the region, some
held by Catholic development institutuions, some by absentee owners, but also
many are held within the villages, where they tend to be lineage or clan
property. In the villages they are not milked (any more than sheep or goats), but are rather raised for sale as meat. One well-to-do village claimed to eat beef themselves, but it is not to be expected that this is widespread, as most villagers would not be able to afford it. Animals are not stabled, graze at will, and no advantage is taken of their manure. Crop losses due to freely grazing animals are said to be significant.
Marketing
Most crops marketed would appear to go to Kinshasa (Bandundu supplies 80 percent of the manioc for Kinshasa) and most of them apparently go in the hands 7.
of Kinshasa based merchants or their agents, who have the financial resources
to meet the very high transportation costs. Villagers tend to sell either to
traders who come to their villages or ac periodic markets whece the traders
come to buy. Women take the produce to markets, whereas men make longer trips
to secondary towns or even Kinshasa to sell. The great problems with marketing
from the point of view of the villagers are the infrequency and irregularity
with which buyers appear, the low prices offered (though these have risen for
some crops since the freeing of pricps in 1982), and the lack of adequate
facilities to store crops for later sale. One consequer ce would appear to be
that people are tempted to sell most of their crop whenever any one shows upj,
since they don't know when they will have another chance. Some cooperatives
have supposedly been set up to deal with some of these problems, but their
number, constitution, and effectiveness are not known.
Health and nutrition.
Generally, it would appear that health and nutrition levels are low, but
there are considerable differences from one region to another. In Luniungu,
for example, one village seemed to be flourishing. The people looked fit,
claimed to eat well, including their cattle, and said they had no problems with
crop diseases or the fertility of their fields. In another village not far
away, on the other hand, the people seemed emaciated and dispirited, their
fields had been producing less and less for the last five years, and they could
only stay alive by selling pottery to buy food. When possible measures that
could be taken were discussed, they complained that the elders had no authority
over the youth. Apparently this village did not represent an isolated
instance, as half the "collectivit6" was said to be suffering famine conditions. 8.
Malnutrition, which is said to be widespread, particularly among children,
probably has a number of causes aside from soil infertility: manioc itself as
a staple, whether or not it provides enough calories, the economic pressure to
sell food crops for cash to supply other needs, the shortage of game which used
to supply animal protein, and a lack of knowledge about balanced diets.
Malnutrition in children, particularly, leads to high disease and mortal
ity rates, where they are exposed to unsanitary conditions and vectors of para
sistic diseases such as malaria, sleeping sickness, and schistosomiasis. While basic forms of health services are available, they are housed in inadequate
facilities, supplies are lacking, the level of expertise is low, and there is a problem of transportation.
Education.
Although primary and secondary education is available in the region, facilities are poor, supplies few, teachers are lacking, and school fees are a burden on most of the population. While both boys and girls attend primary school, numbers drop off considerably at the secondary level, and the ratio of boys to girls in rural areas rises to something like ten to one. It is said that girls are poorer students, but there is also the fact that earning money by farming has a more immediate attrac-ion for girls, who are the traditional farmers. Education for boys is seen as a means of escape from the rural sphere and is therefore worth the time and money. One complaint expressed about the school curriculum was that it offered no technical or vocational training, but rather stressed academic knowledge of little use to them. One report said that there was a prejudice in the villages against agriculture and that boys tended to avoid agricultural training schools in favor of other kinds. Girls tend to be excluded from advanced agricultural training because they don't get beyond 9.
primary school. This would suggest the need for instituting agricultural
training in school as early as the primary level.
Access to credit and supplies
These are both limited. Opportunities apparently do not exist for peas
ants or small local traders to obtain loans at normal lending institutions. It
is said that some informal credit organizations exist, but just what they are
and how they function is not known.
It is a general complaint that supplies of all kinds are hard to come by,
particularly in the villages themselves, where it seems there are no shops.
Instead, people have to rely on what is brought from Kinshasa by traders in
their trucks, on which occasions barter is not infrequent (to the disadvantage
of the villager).
Conclusions
After this very brief review of some of the basic facts of life in the
project area, a word or two should be said about the nature of rural-urban
linkages and their promotion. Some take the point of view that all stimulus
for development in the countryside has come and must come from urban areas,
and it has been argued that development projects in the past have mistakenly assumed that one could initiate development in one or two villages and then extend it from village to village, whereas villagers are only likely to accept innovations from urban areas because of the prestige attached to the latter
(#46:4F). It would follow that one should bring about development not bj direct intervention in the villages, but by supporting the economic growth of and
facilities provided by secondary towns and cities, which would then pull the villages along with them through the economic stimulus they would provide. 10. However, while it is true that country people admire the material goods provided by urban areas, their facilities of all kinds, including education,
and the distractions they offer, what they cannot get from them as things now stand, is the ability to increase significantly their agricultural production
so that they can afford what the urban areas have to offer. Without that abil ity the rural exodus will grow, the agricultural labor force will decline, the
number of urban unemployables will increase, and food production in the coun
tryside will not be able to feed the growing urban population.
While improved communications and marketing facilities will release some food currently unsold, not inly can they not solve the problems of increased population pressure on the land and declining yields, but they would exacerbate it by encouraging people to increase their production in the only way presently
available to them, which is by increasing the area they cultivate.
It is, thus, essential to build up the villages as efficient production units so that they and the towns can play mutually supportive roles in the development of the region. This will demand not only the development and application of improved soil conservation and production techniques and the introduction of improved plant varieties, but also the creation of conditions of life in the villages that will help to keep their labor forces and promote the necessary spirit and discipline to carry out the changes needed.
This is, of course, easier said than done. Unfortunately, the existing agricultural extension service is incapable of doing the job, for not only are the agents inadequately trained and have responsibility for too many villages without the means of reaching them as often as necessary, but they are per ceived primarily as agents of government interference and oppression rather than as respected agricultural experts. Indeed, they share in the general fear 1].
and suspicion of the government in a region that has been the scene of strongly
repressed rebellion in 1963 and 1976. The "collectivit" authorities,
furthermore, lack the means to carry out general measures which might aid in
the process, such as prohibiting brush fires.
The 102 Project Paper, recognizing this problem, proposes to work through
existing private organizations to the extent possible. However, even though
these may enjoy more respect than the government agencies, they still operate
outside the villages and with respect only to agricultural or animal husbandry
techniques and marketing. One proposal, for example, was for the people of a
village to give over their cattle to the mission, which would hire an expatri
ate expert to manage the herd for them. Not unnaturally, the offer was
refused.
What should be done, in addition to the various interventions proposed to
improve conditions generally in the project area, and for them to have any
lasting effect, is to tackle a couple of villages intensively on a continuous
basis to try to get them to deal with their agricultural, economic, and social
problems themselves and as a whole. This really calls for a far-reaching agri
cultural and social revolution. The peoples of this region developed their
cultivation practices and social norms at a time when the land was plentiful,
forest cover extensive, and population thin. Their primary interest in land was for the game that lived on it and shifting cultivation for subsistence was an appropriate use of the environment. Now conditions have changed radically.
The population is far denser, the game is largely gone. forest lands (all now secondary) are shrinking rapidly and declining in fe-.tiLity, and people are called upon to produce not only for them',elves. out to feed Kinshasa and to earn the cash necessary for survival in the modern world. Either a substantial 12.
part of the population must emigrate and allow the remainder to continue to
exist on a subsistence basis, or ways must be found to make it possible for
them to change to a system of permanent field agriculture with sustainable
yields. Presumably this would require, among other things, new cultivation
techniques incorporating vegetal matter and other nutrients into the soil,
different crop rotations and planting schedules, the use of new plant varie
ties, reforestation, new animal husbandry methods involving community control,
and the use of manure. All this would inevitably have a major impact on the
control of, access to, and inheritance of land and the lin(:s of village author
ity in general. It would seem certain that only if the project can bring about
a revolution of this kind at the village level will it,succeed in bringing
lasting improvements to the economy of the region.
Unfortunately, there is no simple formula for doing this. Whatever is to be achieved must be based on the circumstances prevailing in those villages, and we know far too little about village life in this part of Zaire. A consid erable number of studies of various aspects of life in the reion have been made or drawn upon in the preparation of this project, but for the most part they are of a quick and superficial kind. While they provide a kind of inven tory of the region, they do not explain the dynamics of the processes taking place. Although there is some information on the nature of the towns and their links to each other, we have no analysis of the flows and cisLribution of crops, goods, and services between the villages and towns in the project area.
There are not even any svlid historical baseline data on traditional agricul tural practices or the social norms of the peoples involved. No one has ever made an exhaustive study of the reasons, both practical and religious, for the traditional cultivation practices, and these must be understood before 13.
attempting to change them. Of all the peoples in the area only the Bapende
have been described more than superficially in the literature (and this was
some thirty years ago), and a profound knowledge of these societies and cul
tures cannot be acquired by simply administering questionnaires. The changing
patterns in descent structure, the sexual division of labor, marriage patterns,
the exercise of authority, control of resources, expenditures, investments, etc. must be studied at first hand and over an extended period of time in order
to understand their significance for village society's adaptation to changing economic and social conditions.
The position taken here is that a fundamental necessity for economic development in the region is an ability to expand production safely in an endangered environment, that further knowledge in both technical and societal areas is essential, and that research into both these areas must be an integral part of the development process, rather than simply a monitoring device to see periodically if the project is succeeding.
This might be achieved as follows. A team consisting of a social anthr, poligist, an agronomist, an agro-forester, and an expert in animal husbandry would make a long-term study (minimum 2 years), of traditional and current norms and practices in all these areas in preferably two villages with con trasting conditions of welfare and ethnic background, such as those referred to above in the collectivite of Luniungu. At the same time, or rather as soon as the situation seemed to make it advisable, innovations in reforestation, culti vation, and animal husbandry techniques arid new varieties of cultigens devel oped in collaboration with research organizations in Zaire and elsewhere would be introduced with the cooperation of the villagers. This would provide crucial tests as to the adaptability and acceptability of these varieties under 14.
village conditions. As experience was gained, it would provide an effective
demonstration for other villages in the area and a solid basis for interven
tions in other villages in the region.
Concurrently, a more extensive kind of research should be carried out in
the project area as a whole to identify and analyze the modalities of marketing
and credit, and to quantify and map the flows of agricultural produce and other
goods. This kind of knowledge would be a necessary complement to the develop
ment efforts in the individual villages, the aim of which, of course, is to
increase the production and sale of crops, and it should be developed in col
laboration with the village team.
An important consideration in forming the team should be the sex of the
investigators. As is commonly stressed, women are the prime cultivators, so it would seem highly desirable that the anthropologist be female. Since the
forest is the preserve of the men, it follows that the agro-forester should be a man. The same goes for the animal husbandry expert, whereas the sex of the agronomist would be less crucial if a female anthropologist were present.
Obviously, it would be crucial that these fcur people work together as a team and not pull the villagers apart in four different directions.
As far as the position of social anthropologist is concerned, the appro priate level of training would be after the completion of formal study and examinations. The field research would then constitute the basis for the Ph.D. dissertation.
It is felt that an intensive involvement with two villages such as described above would be the best way to go about development in the region.
However, if because of budgetary limitations and prior commitments it proves impossible to carry out in its entirety, at the very least the village study by 15. an anthroplogist and the one proposed for marketing, credit, and goods flows in the project area should be made so that one would at least have an adequate basis for understanding whatever successes or failures result from the other project interventions. 16.
Docimvents Consulted
1. Robert Harrelson et al.,"Field Trip 25 October-4 November 1983 to study river traffic on the Kwango, Wamba, and Inzia Rivers."
2. John Zenker,"Trip Report: Market Study -n Idiofa, Dibaya-Lubwe, and Mangai April 5-19, 1984."
3. William Fiebig,"Farming Practices in Luniungu, Nkara and Bulwem Collect ivities, Balungu Zone, Kwilu Sub-region, Bandundu Region, Zaire, 1984."
4. Marvin P. Miracle, Agricultur- in the Congo Basin, University of Wisconsin Press, 1967.
5. Tsheshiku Kabundi,"Kwilu. Aspect physique du milieu." No date.
6. John S. Holtzman, "Recent Changes in the Agricultural Economy of Kwilu Sub-region up to the September 1983 Devaluation", October, 198..
7. Richara Dreiman, "Team Leaders' Impressions of Small Farmer Survey and Their Experiences in the villages," 23 June 1984 (memo to H. L. Braddock, Elisabeth Reid, Bill Pruit).
8. Elizabeth Reid, "Area Food and Market Development Project (660-0102) Project Development Requirements," early 1984.
9. I. H. Thorigne, J. M. Castelquau and I. Zaengel-Bevilaqua, "mission de Consultation sur la Commercialisation dans le Kwilu" (Projet FAO d'assistance a l'ONPV).
10. Direction des Narches, Prix et Credits de Campagne, Department de l'Agriculture et du Developpement Rural, Mouvement Populaire de la Revo lution, Republique du Zalre, "Structure des Prix des Produits Vivriers 4e trimestre 1983," Fevrier, 1984.
11. , "Projet d'etude sur les effets de la liberalisation des prix aqricoles, decidee en mai 1982 et les effets des mesures d'ajustement monetaire de septembre 1983," Abril, 1984.
12. , "Enquete sur l'approvisionnement de Kinshasa," Juin, 1984.
13. Kingata Munsial Bureg, "Etude du systeme de credit a la production et a la commercialisation agricole," Avril-Mai, 1984.
14. Aben Nqay, "Enquete sur l'enseignement agricole dans la region de Bandundu." Publication du CENACOF. 17.
15. Kingata Munsial Bureg, "Structure et organisation des entites acinistratives locales au Zalre." Juillet, 1984.
16. Elizabeth Reid, "CEPLANUT's B _ndundu Nutrition Strategy", memo to H. L. Braddock, June 25, 1984.
17. Kenneth R. Farrell, "Toward Improved Agricultural Policies in Zaire. Issues and Options for U.S.A.I.D.," June, 1934.
18. Cyril B. Brown, "Technical Analysis. The Effectiveness of a Land-Capability Component in the Zaire (Bandundu Region) Area Food and Marketing Develop ment Project" 1934.
19. Beresi, Mpey, 'Rapport de l'etude socio-economique sur 'le petit cultivateur' menee du 5/04/1984 au 9/06/1984 dans les collectivites de Kalanganda, Banga, et Kapia dan-, la zone d'Idiofa, sous-r6gion du Kwilu, region de Bandundu."
20. Kadiata Ngila, "Rapport d'enquete effectue a la Sous-Regions de Kwilu/Zone Idiofa. Collectivites de Bulwem, Sedzo et Laceko, Region de Bandundu." 21. Kimfumu Kialewuka qt al., "Rapport d 'cnquu_, efrectuce dans les sous-regions du Xwilu et de Mai-Ndombe du 5 mai au 5 Juin 84."
22. Pashi Lumana, "Small Farmer Survey Bandundu 1984 Village Trip Report."
23. Carol Payne, "Summary of USAID Comments on Bandundu Food and Nutrition Plan" (memo to Derek Singer, GDO) July 30, 1984.
24. G. J. Eele and L. Newton, "Small Farmer Study Bandundu Region Zaire. Report of a consultancy co USAID," 31 July 1984.
25. Pashi Lumana, "How to Increase Agricultural Production in the Project Area." October, 1984.
26. Jo Ellen Patterson, "Institutional Inventory. Trip Report Kapia and Banga Collec,.ivites," November 5-18, 1984.
27. Pashi Lumana, Trip Report of Visit by a USAID team to Athen and Kingandu Missions in the Gunqu zone to evaluate nutrition interventions, October 24-29, 1984.
28. Mike Spencer, ;A Preliminary Design for a Monitorinq and Evaluation Infor mation System for the Area Food and arket Development Project (660-0102) and the Agricultural Marketing Development Project (660-0098), August, 1984.
29. Michael Lipton, "The place of agricultural research in the development of sub-Saharan Africa." 18.
30. John Holtzman, "Comments on Production et Commercialisation du Manioc au Zalre," 12/10/84.
31. , "Zaire Agricultural Marketing Assessment Phase II Report, November, 1984. 32. INADES-Formation (CEPAS), Calendrier Agricole. Bandundu, Kasai. 33. Elizabeth Reid, "Socio-Economic Base-Line Survey for the Kwilu Road Building Component of the Agricultural Marketing Development Project (USAID Kinshasa: 660-0028), 1982. 34. R. H. Booth, "Cassava storage: post-harvest deterioration and storage of fresh cassava roots," 1975. 35. "Cassava Processing Experiments as Part of 102." John Holtzman, November, 1984.
36. Stephen K. O'Hair, "Project Recommendations for the Kwilu Sub-Region (660-0102)." 37. Nkiere Mbo Wassa, "Brief Analysis of the Principal Factors Determining the Quality of Cassava Chips," February, 1984. 38. "III. Cassave Processing: Main Bottleneck?" Possibly by Nkiere Mbo Wassa. 39. CEPLANUT, "A Nutrition Surveillance System for Bandundu Region," September, 1984. 40. Africa Bureau, "Nutrition Guidelines for Agriculture and Rural Development," November, 1983. 41. John Holtzman, SFMA and Chris Pappas, memo to H. L. Braddock 11/1/84: "IRES research activities and potential as a monitoring and evaluation center for 098 and 102." 42. '3ite Survey Report Agricultural Marketing Delrelopment Project 660-0098, Area Food and Market Development Project 660-0102," August, 1983. 43. Avrom Ben David-Val, "Rural/Urban Productivity and Employment Promotion (RUPEP)", November 5, 1984. 44. Louise Fresco, "Women and Cassava Production. An Approach to improving Agricultural Productivity in Rural 7,aire," November, 1982. 45. Louise Fresco, "Techniques Agricoles Ameliorees pour le Kwanqo-Kwilu," Mai, 1983. 19.
46. Deanna Osmond and Tsishiku Kabundi, "Trip Report on Visit to the Sub-Regions of Kikwit and Kwilu in Bandundu," October, 1982.
47. Elizabeth Reid, "Trip Peport: Kasai River, November 29-December 5, 1983."
48. "Area Food and Market Development Project (660-0102) Project Development Rdquirements" (no author, no date).
49. Henri Nicolai, Le Kwilu. Etude geographique d'une region congolaise. Bruxelles (CEMUBAC), 1963. - / 50. Departement de l'Agriculture et du Developpement Rural, Services d'Etudes et Planification, Region de Bandundu Etude Reqionale pour la Planification Agricole, October, 1983.
51. Kamanda Lumpungu, "Land tenure system and the agricultural crisis in Zaire," African Environment Special Reports, 1975.
52. Robert Harms, "Land Tenure and Agricultural Development in Zaire, 1895 1969," Land Tenure Center, University of Wisconsin, 1974.
53. Louise Fresco, "Le milieu rural et srn developpement au Kwilu," (PNUD), Juin, 1991.
54. Deborah Zubow Prindle, "Zaire Rural-Urban Profile," Marci, 1984.
55. __, "Secondary Cities and Market Towns inBandundu Region: Inter-Urban Exchanges and Urban Serviceu to Rural Development." November 25, 1984.
56. Area Food and Market Development Project (660-0102).
57. Beresi Mpey, "Report or, the Questionnaire used in the study on 'The Small Cultivator'."
58. William Pruitt, "Small Farmer Study Central Bandundu 1984. Notes in Progress." August 31, 1984.
59. Muyolo Gilimbu, "Problems and Prospects of Cassava Dispersion in Bandundu," in Cassava Production and Extension in Central Africa, IITA, Ibadan . 1980.
60. David Tabachnik, "Land Tenure and Reform in Zaire: An Annotated Biblio , graphy,' Land Tenure Center, University of Wisconsin, June, 1985. 20.
DOCUMENTS REVIEW
Area Food and Marketing Development Project, 660-0102
Prepared by Cyril K. Daddieh
Background
Project 102 is intended to "contribute to AID's central objective of meeting the needs of the poor majority through sustainable and broadly based economic growth." This objective is expected to be achieved through increased production, processing, and marketing in central Bandundu.
This report is informed by the above objectives :nd by a perspective of analysis which views production and marketing of agricultural commodities as a holistic or integrated system involving:
actors (producers, buyers, sellers, creditors, private, semi-private and
parastal institutions and their representatives, etc.), in given
locations (cities, market towns, villages), requiring for the efficient
functioning of the system certain
inputs (labor, land, credit, fertilizer, water, insecticides, storage,
transport, etc.) and certain kinds of
information of both a technical and non-technical nature, including out
puts of research stations relating to new varieties of crops, methods
of cultivation, land resource management, etc, and information about
producer prices for different crops, market locations, input prices,
etc., so th?*, producers and traders can respond to different price
signals and market opportunLtie - by switching among dil.-fvrent crops.
Since issues of welfare and equity are cenL, al to the success of the project, AID must ensure that expanding opportunities for Lncomfle generation 21.
through production and marketing also are accompanied by opportunities for
investments that improve rural standards of living. In this system there are
always conflicts to be resolved, he they over land, pricing, distribution of
benefits, loan repayment, etc.
At each level of the production-marketing system, it is important to moni
tor and evalaate any constraints on farming and marketing activities in order
to program adaptive interventions. This is where building local institutional
capacity to carry out monitoring, evaluation, and implementation functions
comes in.
Indeed, one of the more crucial requirements for achieving the kind of
self-sustaining rural-urban development that AID/Kinshasa seeks to promote is a
greater effort toward real support and strengthening of an "organizational or
institutional infrastructure," i.e., the network of local institutions or
organizations in the region that can perform on-going monitoring, planning,
and management roles.
Available documentation
What emerges when we apply this conceptualization to a production
marketing system is a pattern of interactions among people, products, and ser
vices in a geographic space. But before we look for the evidence that will
allow us to situate the system as it operates in geographic space, there are a
few general comments about the documents that must be stated.
The documents can be classified into two broad categories: (a) research and evaluation reports and (b) trip reports. There may be a third category consisting of a handful of research designs, evaluative reports of such designs and progress reports on their implementation. The latter may be of interest only in so far as they caution us against the transfer of survey instruments 22.
(the dominant mode of data collection in the project area), with all their
unstated underlying assumptions, either wholesale or with minimal modifica
tions, to an African context. Survey instruments designed for Africa must be
informed by the socio-cultural contexts of participating African societies.
This, in turn, necessitates an active indigenous collaboration in both design
and implementation. The mission is aware of this need and we encourage its
efforts to involve local institutions as much as possible.
As for the two major categories of interest, they provide the mission with
very general descriptive data about the Bandundu Region as a whole. We learn
from these documents that the project area is an important producer and sup plier of staple food crops to the urban centers of Kinshasa, Kikwit, Idiofa,
Tsikapa, and even Brazzaville. It is also an area of high circular migration, much of it to Kinshasa and Kikwit.
Briefly, these two types of information provide initial evidence for the pattern of rural-urban interaction/linkage in the project area -- a flow of staple food crops as well as people from the rural areas of the project area to urban centers in the Bandundu Region.
On production systems, the mission documents provide information on modes and means of production, major crops produced, levels of production, and quan tities marketed. N4e are cautioned against putting too much faith in the actual figures by almost every author who has ever had to use them, because the data collection process is notoriously unreliable.
For instance, Bulungu zone increased io maize production from 60,U00 tons to 410,748 tons in 1983. Similarly, courge production increased from a yearly average of 50,000 tons to 103,029 tons in 1983. Idiofa zone also recorded spectacular increases -- courge went from 1,697 tons to 12,063 tons in 1983. 23.
These inflated figures, notwithstanding, there has been a trend toward
increased production in the project area since 1980. The documents suggest
that increased urban demand, improved marketing, and the liberalization of
prices for agricultural produce have contriLted to the surge in production.
Other background information available reveals great ethnic diversity, a
farming population composed of more females than males, a high incidence of
non-formal education among the farming population (between 50 and 60 percent
non-literacy rate in Kwilu and 36 percent in Bulungu) useful information for
the design and implementation of agricultural outreach programs.
The mission now has information about the modalities of marketing, te
companies and traders involved, bases (location) of operation, uesources, and
support services at their disposal. Perhaps the most documented issue is that
of constraints on production and marketing in the project area. Also well documented is the number of local developitcit oriented institu
tions and agents and how these may be mobilized to sustain the efforts of mis
sions. The reports on these local institutions bring into greater relief the
preponderance of the missionary presence (both Catholic and Protestant) and
their involvement in rural development projects in the area.
The difficulty with trying to program interventions on the basis of evi dence gleaned from these reports is that many of them are very impressionistic and anecdotal. While they convey idens about people, places, products, and
institutions, they also show internal inconsistencies and do not give guide
lines on the Linkages that exist between them.
Production
The Bandunda Region as a whole is reportedly one of the most productive agricultural regions of Zaire. As indicated earlier, significant quantities of 24.
staple crops such as cassava (the most important staple), groundnuts, maize,
courge, rice, sweet potatoes, yam, vouandzon, and millet are produced here.
Bulungu zone is the most productive zone of the project area, followed by
Idiofa zone. Bagata zone appears to be most deficient in agricultural
production.
A few cash crops are also produced in the region. Coffee, sugar (10 per
cent of the national production), rubber, and oil palm are the main export cash
crops. The Mai-Ndombe sub-region of Bandundu is the most important producer of
robust coffee. As coffee production has picked up, so has palm oil production
declined. Tobacco is an important cash crop in the Bagata zone and in Masi-
Manimba. There are apparently 7,000 planters of tobacco, each cultivating
about 20 acres maximum. Palm oil production is reported to have increased by
25 percent since 1981 in the region, following the successful production cam
paign of PLZ.
While these export crops are produced largely by men, who, no doubt, call on the unpaid labor services of women in their households or lineages, the pro duction of staple food crops is dominated by women, a characteristic shared with most other African farming systems. Again, the most important staple crop
that is produced and marketed is cassava.
In the region as a whole, some 320,000 hectares or 45 percent of total cultivated land is under this crop. Maize and leguminous crops each occupy 15 percent of total cropped lind. Rice production (a male occupation) is growing in importance in parts of Bandundu, especially in Idiofa and Gungu zones. The
Kwilu remain the most prominent producers of rice in the region.
Production of staple food crops takes place in both the savannah and forest ecosystems, the two dominant ecosystems of the region. Production is 25.
organized by women on relatively small landholdings, belonging, not to indi
viduals per se, but to clans/lineages of female producers or to those of their
husbands. The level of production is clearly mediated by the level of technol
ogy used, the quality of the land that is available, and the amount of labor
that is applied.
The uabiquitous hoe and cutlas continue to be the only implements in use.
Application of fertilizer, insecticides, or the results of research stations
relating to soil conditions, improved varieties of cassava cuttings, etc., are
non-existent. In the absence of any transformation in the mode of agricultural
production, extensive cultivation and concomitant bush fallowing are widely
practiced.
The length of the fallow period depends very much oa evironmental condi
tions (in particular, upon the weather as water strategies have yet to be
evolved) as well as on the changing pattern of household composition and
organization.
In general, those households with relatively fewer farm hands (e.g., males
to clear and burn virgin forest) or with limited access to good arable land
have tended to shorten fallow periods and cultivate relatively more inten
sively. The extensive mode of cultivation also implies a reduction of the amount of labor time actually devoted to crop production, since considerable
time and energy are expended on walking to and from farms.
Again, food production in the project area depb:t,' largely on female labor inputs. There is always some cross-gender cooperation, however unequal this may seem. And, surely, in recent years, a reductioa in male gender roles and alternative employment opportunities as well as the increased prospects for income-generation have combined to bring more men into participating in food 26.
production. Nonetheless, even where men's involvement is limited to the per
formance of a few specific tasks, they seem to control the revenues generated
by women from their on-farm activities. They seem to have the right to dispose
of the income as they see fit.
In any event, on-farm revenues in the project area are by no means sub
staitial. The relative size of landholdings and low, though improving, prices
for farm products and the resultant stifling of rural entrepreneurship is
clearly reflected in the lack of transformation in modes of production and pro
cessing. One, therefore, gecs the distinct impression that there is very
little social differentiation in the project area.
This may well be the case, since export cash crop production remains rela
tively underdeveloped. The historical pattern of accumulation and social dif
ferentiation among Africans in the countryside has been nurtured through the
commercialization of export crops and livestock ownership. As the documents
suggest, both of these have had limited diffusion in the project area.
Although harvesting of oil palm fruits has been providing an outlet for rural
male labor, it has not succeeded in capturing the peasantry. Cocoa production
is virtually 7on-_-xistent. Coffee, rubber, and tobacco have had limited suc
cess, and then only in a few collectivities like Kemba, and PLX has been forced
to close down a number of its operations.
It must also be noted that while almost all collectivities produce some amou-it of food crops for home consumption, there are significant differences in levels of output and, hence, of inarketable surplus. Agricultural production is highest in Due and Nkara collectivities, while Kilunda and Luniungu have the lowest production levels. 27.
Even in the latter case, the disparities among villages can be enormous,
as we observed from our cursory .:urvey of the two neighboring villages of
Bwatunda-Kilesa and KJpwala.
Marketing
The ability of farmers to market their produce is crucial if efforts to
increase production are going to be sustained. The Bandundu Region does have
a number of organized periodic markets among which commercants from Kinshasa,
Kikwit, Bulungu City, Idiofa, Kin--Tsikapa-Kavemba Kasai circulate to buy pro
duce for evacuation to these urban centers.
A number of large companies are involved in evacuating produce from the
region. These include CAC, SOFIBAND, CBB, BAT, Fernandes, PLX, DPP, and CDR.
The latter two have religious affiliations. Crop specialization is apparently
rare among these companies, although CAC, SOFIBAND, and CDR are more heavily
involved in buying fiber.
CAC and SOFIBAND send representatives or ageiits into villages on bicycles
to announce pick-up dates. Moreover, CDR has established its own bi-monthly
markets to facilitate produce buying. Other companies and medium-sized commer
cants retain agents in the rural areas who buy and centralize the crops for
evacuation. Bicycles and baleiniere, with or without outboard motors, may be
even more critical to the successful marketing of produce in tile project area
as large vehicles or ONATRA barges.
In addition to large companies, there are numerous, very enterprising
small- and medium-size operators. This sector is dominated by females whose
role may be, again, even more central to the success of marketing of staple
food crops than the large companies. They are quite capable of moving large quantities of produce from some of the most inaccessible villages of the
project area. 28.
According to the documents, marketing opportunities are highly uneven.
Some villages could go for weeks without any traders visiting them to purchase
food crops. Considerable spoilage and unfulfille(j expectations result from
interminable delays due to bad roads, broken down vehicles and ferries, etc.
In general, villages in re'atixe proximity to passable roads and river trans
port fare better than those in remote areas.
While half of the collectivities in the project area have well-organized
bi-monthly markets (two-week intervals) in each groupements, organized mar
keting rarely occurs in the other half except near missions. For example, the
Loand groupement of the Luniungu collectivity suffers from isolation because of
the lack of a bridge on the Crobari river. By contrast, Kingala and Moliambo
Musingi villages have access to a vibrant bi-monthly market located at Kingala
and drawing clients from Loande and even from IMokano colleciuivity (Masimanimba
zone). These rural periodic markets are accessible to most villagers only on
foot. Considerable walking distances are involved, thus limiting the amount of
produce that can be brought to these markets.
Collectivities that are accessible only by river transport appear to
experience the most difficulty in the marketing of their produce. Marketing by
river transport is both arduous and hazardous. The evacuation of produce is done on ONATRA barges and, again, predominantly by female traders. The traders
journey up and down the river about twice a month to buy produce in relatively small quantities for sale in Kinshasa or Kikwit.
This marketing process takes several forms. One form involves the pur chase of a ticket on ONATRA to a fixed destination. The female traders fre quently, though not always, have clan ties to the areas thay visit. The advan
tage is that they can then get family members to assist them in the buying,
assembling, and loading on to the barges. 29.
Another form is characterized by buying directly from the boat. The
traders leave their orders with operators of pirogues as they maneuver along
side the boat. The traders have to leave sufficient initialed sacks for manioc
and other produce and an advance on payment. The order is delivered on the
boat's return trip. Apparently the amount of time alloted to each stop depends
entirely on the whims and caprice of the captains. Often there is Just not
enough time to get orders loaded onto the boats and to sell manufactured goods
to villagers. The scramble to complete the necessary operations leads to chaos and confusion and capsized canoes.
Kinshasa- and Kikwit-based operators have an advantage over village-based traders in those areas where the road conditions allow their vehicles to pene trate. Many village-based traders who are unable to compete against Kinshasa based operators because they lack access to institutional credit, private trensport, and warehouses are now acting as intermediaries for their competi tors for small commissions.
Both commercial operators and small traders perform dual marketing roles.
They facilitate the evacuation of staple food crops from the project area to
Kinshasa, Idiofa, Kikwit, and Tsikaya, etc. They form, then, a link between the rural producer in Bandundu and the urban consumer in Kinshasa or Kikwit.
They also serve as a channel through which comsumer goods from the city reach the rural dwellers of the project area. This latter role is just as important as the L rmer, since the demand for urban-based consumer goods is one of the key stimulants to increased rural agricultural production and marketing.
Summary
To summarize, we have two major flows or interactions between Kinshasa,
Kikwit, Idiofa, Budunga City, and the project area. As indicated earlier, 30. staple food crops and people (young males in search of urban employment or pro
fessional training) flow from the project area to the aforementioned cities. Conversely, consumer goods and people move laterally from Idiofa and Bulungu or
vertically from Kinshasa and Kikwit into the project area. Both of these flows not only make the geographic space an integrated whole but are also vital to
stimulating increased agricultural production and marketing.
However, it is also quite clear that the conditions under which urban
based consumer goods reach the rural dweller in the project area are highly
unfavorable to the rural consumer. Under the form of barter system that appears to be quite widespread in the project area, it has been e.,imated that the farmer receives 20 to 40 percent of the retail value for manioc in Kinshasa and Kikwit. The villager may get cloth worth 200 z in exchange for 2 sacks of groundnuts or cassava worth 1,200 z and 1,000 z, respectively. The lack of stores in most of the communities and the lack of competitive buying of the producers crops make them doubly vulnerablc to price gouging by the traders.
The transport interventions that are currently underway may generate more competition among buyers and provide better opportunities for comparison shopping by the producers. This is all the more reason why the competitiveness of rural-based traders must be strengthened through the provision of adequate credit. It may also be necessary to wre!t control of the distribution of urban-based consumer goods iway from produce buyers by helping enterprising villages run small outlet stores, perhaps on a cooperative basis, at the col lectivity or even village level.
The mission lacks empirical data on migration and remittance flows. Sources of migration, destination, impact of the phenomenon on recipient com munities, and home origin of migrants. What is the phenomenon's impact on 31. agricultural production and processing, for instance? If return migration is documented as important, the mission must know the impact of the migratory experience on subsequent economic activities and life-styles. It will be equally useful to find out how urban remittances are invested, in productive versus consumption goods. Such empirical data, we think, will be highly valu able as they provide a handle on which sectors are likely to yield relatively rapid results if interventions were targeted to them or, for that matter, which market towns, secondary cities, and subsets of the rural population have the potential for promoting increased production and marketing.
In our view, the reports contain very good descriptive summaries of the constraints on production, processing, and marketing. These range from the dearth of high-yielding, disease resistant varieties of basic food crops
(cassava cuttings in particular), absence of effective agricultural extension programs, low producer prices, shortened fallow periods, deforestation and soil deterioration; for marketing, the most serious constraints appear to be the poor state of the region's road network, defective barges, impassable water ways, broken bridges, unreliable time schedules, frequent breakdowns of vehicles, lack of storage facilities or processing mills, lack of stores out side of Kinshasa that carry much needed spare parts, lack of fuel or its pro hibitive price on the black market, and insufficient operating capital for small and medium-scale enterprises because institutional lending is limited to only large scale operators who can meet the strict borrowing requirements and the high interest rates on the loans.
AID cannot hope to program interventions to deal with all of these con straints even if it had unlimited funds. Some of the more attitudinal changes that are required for improved production, processing, and marketing are 32.
clearly beyond the mission's ability to influence immediately. But, as already
indicated, the transportation project, for instance, would ease some of the
difficulties of evacuating produce and may induce competition which might lead
to improved producer prices for the farmer in the project area. The soil sur
vey might yield recommendations that, if adopted by local farmers, could lead
to beneficial changes in land use practices and stimulate production. The mission must also continue to support and strengthen local institutions for
research and project implementation such as the Lusekele Agricultural Center.
Meanwhile, ol the input side, the lack of availability of credit is, by most accounts, a serious obstacle to effective marketing by small rural-based traders. While the evidence is still fragmentary, there are indications of creative local credit cooperatives and informal credit institutions that act as mutual self-help organizations sustaining various kinds of small-scale rural enterpries. But we Just don't have enough information about their membership and operations. Will it be possible for these informal credit institutions to evolie into something more than channels of credit? Could they also run up country consumer goods stores for their members and their communities effectively?
If the impression i, accurate that women's involvement is very high in these informal credit institutions, then it provides an additional reason why the study of these instittitions is imperative. it would have signalled rural women's continuing ability to evolve survival strategies that also have an impact on agricultural production and marketing.
A related area of study that will complement the mission's objectives in the project area and one that links the urban centers and secondary cities to the rilral areas of the region is tile contractual .rrangements that underpin productiion, processing, and marketi.ng in tile proj ect area. 33.
In the specific context of the project area, a study of "contract farming
will allow us to trace the flows of credit, information, consumer goods, agri
cultural products and producers and traders across a geographic space in a
dynamic relationship. The study will hqve to pqqpsq th nature of the contract
relationship and study the process by which contracts are negotiated, whether
on an individual or collective basis. How stable is the contract? How to deal
with defaults Gr conflicts?
By assessing the effects of these arrangements on the welfare of the par
ticipating farmers and traders, paying particular attention to income, distri
bution of risk and changes in farming, and processing or marketing skills, the misL,ion will be able to determine how best these contract arrangements can be organized to improve the welfare of participating farmers and traders and to meet developmental objectives.