Jackson Advocate

Long Range ...
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to mechanization, and there is an active demand in world markets for farm crops raised in the Congo.

Mr. Skinner made his study of the agricultural economy of the Congo and its small administrative neighbor, Ruanda-Urundi, during the latter part of 1959 and early 1960-prior to Congo independence on June 30. It covers up through 1958 and is titled "The Agricultural Economy of the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi."

In addition to agricultural production, population, physical geography, transportation, and marketing, the report discusses achievements of the first 10-year development plan, 1948-57. Under it, the government spent more than a billion dollars providing improved agriculture, generation of electric power, and better housing, education, and transportation.

Nearly half of the $58.5 million spent on improvement of Congo Agriculture went toward research and extension. Basic research is carried on by 20 different sections at the principal research station, and other agricultural research is conducted at 60 experimental centers and stations throughout the country.

Employed in the research and extension programs are more than 7,000 workers, including agronomists, engineers, and other scientists and agricultural aides. Their findings on erosion control, fertilizer applications, insect control and other methods of improving crops and livestock are made available to farmers through publications, demonstrations, and the distribution of seeds and plants.

Between 1951 and 1956, says the report, more than 2,200 short tons of improved seeds and five million plants were distributed. This work is resulting in increased production of food for home use, as well as higher yields of such export products as coffee, palm oil, cotton, and rubber.

In 1958 African and European farmers of the Congo produced 60,000 tons of coffee, 249,000 tons of palm oil, 158,500 tons of palm kernels, 157,000 tons of seed cotton, and 41,000 tons of rubber.

The United States imports about half the coffee output of the Congo and Ruanda-Urundi, 40 percent of the palm kernel oil production, and 26 percent of the rubber. In turn, these two countries import 72 percent of their wheat flour and 46 percent of their unmanufactured tobacco from the United States.

Nearly 75 percent of Congo agricultural production is for home use by the population of 12,950,987. Of these, Europeans numbered only 107,413 as of 1956, or less than one percent of the total.

Crops grown mainly for home consumption are: cassava, plantains, corn, rice, peanuts, peas, beans, and sweet potatoes. Until recently, the native Africans grew