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Zaire Fishing and Livestock
Zaire has only a small coastline, but fish are abundant
in all
of Zaire's lakes and rivers with the exception of Lac
Kivu.
Nevertheless, although fish is an important source of
protein in
the diet, the amounts harvested are below demand and are
considered
to be well below the potential; imports, mostly of salted
fish, are
required to meet demand. Imports, primarily from South
Africa and
Zimbabwe, normally total about 100,000 tons per year.
Marine
fishing is under the control of a government organization
that
operates a small fleet of fishing boats off the mouth of
the Congo
River. The marine catch, however, is only slightly more
than 1
percent of the country's total and is used almost entirely
by urban
centers in Bas-Zaïre and by Kinshasa. Zaire's total fish
catch was
162,000 tons in 1988, about 166,000 tons in 1989, and
162,000 tons
in 1990. Of these totals, only 2,000 tons were from the
Atlantic
each year; the remainder came from inland waters. Actual
annual
production compares very unfavorably with estimated
production
potential of 330,000 tons per year.
Most of the traditional livestock herding is found in
the
higher eastern sections of the country, where the tsetse
fly, which
transmits sleeping sickness, is less of a problem.
Commercial herds
also are raised in the highland areas of Shaba and
Kasai-Occidental
regions. Estimates in 1991 showed 1.6 million head of
cattle,
910,000 head of sheep, more than 3 million goats, and
830,000 pigs.
There were an estimated 19 million chickens in 1987. Sheep
and
goats are raised by villagers in all parts of the country.
Sheep,
of a small domestic variety that produces little wool, are
raised
for their meat and skins; goats are kept for milk and
meat. Hogs
are generally raised near urban centers. Most villages
have flocks
of chickens and ducks, and, in the mid-1970s, the
government
established a model farm outside Kinshasa to supply large
quantities of eggs and fowl to the capital. Yet as of the
early
1990s, Zaire was still not self-sufficient in animal
products and
imported sizeable quantities of meat and dairy items--in
particular
those for which the elite had acquired a taste.
Data as of December 1993
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