Zaire Crops
Cassava plants at a government showcase farm
The major food crops are cassava, corn, rice,
plantains, and,
to a lesser extent, bananas, beans, and peanuts. Millet,
sorghum,
yams, potatoes, and various fruits are also significant
(see
table 11, Appendix). The food most universally eaten is cassava
(also
known as manioc), annual production of which was estimated
at 18.2
million tons in 1991. Cassava is grown throughout the
country under
all climatic conditions; not only do the tuber and its
products
form a major element of the diet, but the leaves are also
eaten as
a vegetable.
Corn, like cassava, is grown nationwide, but its
principal
culture is centered in the south. In much of Shaba Region,
corn is
the preferred staple; cassava is eaten chiefly during
periods of
corn shortage. Rice is grown mainly in the humid climate
of the
Congo River basin, particularly along the Congo in
Équateur Region
and also near Kisangani in Haut-Zaïre Region. Plantains
and bananas
are cultivated throughout the country but are of special
importance
in the northeast and east, particularly in the former Kivu
Region,
where in some places they are planted on about half the
land
devoted to agriculture and form the principal staple.
Millet and sorghum are grown exclusively in the savanna
areas
and are important only in the relatively dry far northern
and
southeastern parts of the country. A considerable part of
the
sorghum and millet harvests is used for making beer, a
profitable
activity for Zairian women in particular.
Yams and potatoes are cultivated principally in the
forest
zones of central Zaire, where they occasionally constitute
the main
staple. Peanuts are grown outside the central forest
zones, and,
before the turmoil of the 1960s, peanut oil was a
significant
export crop.
The principal cash crops have traditionally been
coffee, palm
oil and palm kernel oil, sugar, cocoa, rubber, and tea.
All are
grown on large plantations. Cotton and tobacco are
produced mainly
on smallholdings.
Coffee has long been Zaire's most important
agricultural cash
crop. Coffee is grown by both smallholders and large
plantations.
However, plantation owners reap proportionately much
larger
profits. Moreover, large exporter firms often buy coffee
at low
prices from small farmers. Then the exporters and the
state,
through the official Zairian Coffee Board, reap large
profits when
world prices are high, such as in 1986 when the
International
Coffee Organization suspended export quotas in the wake of
the 1986
Brazilian freeze and failed harvest.
To circumvent state controls, low prices, and quotas,
many
producers have engaged in illicit trade. By some accounts,
as much
as 30 percent to 60 percent of the coffee crop has
traditionally
been smuggled out of the country each year since
independence--a
tendency increased by the economic crisis of the early
1990s.
Two varieties of coffee are grown: robusta, used
primarily in
the manufacture of instant coffee, and arabica, exported
in bean
form. Cultivation of robusta is widespread and accounts
for
approximately 90 percent of the coffee grown; arabica
requires the
cooler temperatures of highland areas. In 1988 an
estimated 99,000
tons of coffee were produced. In 1989 approximately
107,000 tons of
coffee were produced, and the 1990 crop was 120,000 tons.
But the
coffee crop was reported to be threatened by the fungal
disease,
tracheomycose, and production is estimated to have dropped
to
102,000 tons in 1991. In the early 1990s, coffee
production and
exports also suffered because of the shortage of
fertilizers,
credit for farmers, and low world prices.
In August 1993, Zaire and other African coffee
producers joined
the Association of Coffee Producing Countries (ACPC),
formed by
Latin American producers in July 1993. The association
aimed to
force a rise in coffee prices by withholding a portion of
production from export. World coffee prices did rise in
the last
quarter of 1993.
Prior to independence, Zaire was the second largest
producer of
palm oil in Africa, producing as much as 400,000 tons
annually.
Production dropped during the 1960s as civil disturbances
damaged
palm plantations and farmers switched to the more
lucrative coffee.
Plantations also deteriorated as the decline in the price
of palm
oil reduced profitability. In 1988 and 1989, Zaire
produced 178,000
tons annually. Subsequent production figures were
unavailable in
1993.
Information on tea, cocoa, and rubber is meager. Tea is
grown
in the highland areas of northeastern Zaire. Although the
government has made various attempts to increase its
cultivation,
annual production of tea in the late 1980s (about 3,000
tons) was
less than two-thirds of the amount grown in 1978. The
increased use
of synthetic rubber also led to a decline in rubber
cultivation;
tonnage for the late 1980s, between 17,000 and 24,000
tons, was
less than half the amount for 1978. In 1990 and 1991,
production
was estimated at only 10,000 tons. Cocoa is grown in the
more humid
areas of Bas-Zaïre and Équateur regions. Cocoa production
levels
remained fairly constant through the 1970s and early
1980s, but
generally declined in the late 1980s and early 1990s, from
6,000
tons in 1988 to 4,000 tons in 1991.
The colonial state relied on coercion--fines and
prison--to
force peasants to invest the labor-intensive energy needed
for
cotton production. The imposed system of export crop
production
still existed in the early 1990s, and fines were levied
for
noncompliance. In 1952 some 102,000 tons were produced;
180,000
tons were produced in 1959. Since that time, cotton
growing has
diminished steadily as farmers, where possible, have
chosen to grow
the more lucrative cash crop, coffee. Only 26,000 tons of
cotton
were produced each year from 1988 to 1991. By 1992
production
reportedly had dropped to 11,000 tons.
Cotton output has been affected by farmers'
difficulties with
credit, supplies of seeds and insecticides, and the lack
of
agricultural extension programs. Cotton imports, which
grew as
local production fell in the early 1990s, have also
discouraged
local production. Zaire imports large quantities of used
Western
clothing and foreign-made traditional African textiles.
Nearly
7,500 tons of cotton were imported from the United States
for
spinning in 1986.
Data as of December 1993
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