Chinese Government provides RMB 14 million grant for Phase 2 of Agricultural Technology Demonstration Center Project (Linked to Record ID#59183)

Project narrative

In 2008, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) provided an RMB 40 million grant to Republic of Congo for the Agricultural Technology Demonstration Center Construction Project (captured in Record ID#59183). This grant commitment fulfilled a pledge that was first made at the 2006 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. This project, which is also known as Phase 1 of the Agricultural Technology Demonstration Center project, involved the construction of an Agricultural Technology Demonstration Center (ATDC) in the town of Kombé. The ATDC occupies an area of about 59 hectares and the project site had a total construction area of over 5,000 square meters. The construction of the ATDC included offices, training facilities, production facilities, housing accommodations. It also involved the creation of demonstration fields, the installation of irrigation facilities, and the procurement of agricultural machinery and equipment. The Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences was the contractor responsible for implementation. On September 21, 2009, a groundbreaking ceremony was held and attended by the Chinese Ambassador, the Congolese Minister of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, and technical experts from the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences. Then, in April 2011, the project passed its final MOFCOM inspection. It was officially completed and handed over to the Congolese authorities on December 19, 2011. Then, in 2012, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) provided an RMB 14 million grant to Republic of Congo for Phase 2 of the Agricultural Technology Demonstration Center Project (captured in this project, ID#72959). Phase 2 involved the dispatching of Chinese agricultural experts to the ATDC to provide training and technical assistance — related to cassava, corn, vegetables, chickens, and other animals — to local officials, agricultural technicians, and farmers. Phase 2, which appears to have been financed with an RMB 14 million grant from MOFCOM, began implementation on January 1, 2012 and ended on December 31, 2014.