Feronia Arable holds a 10,000 hectare concession in the Bas-Congo province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, approximately 200km from both the deep water ports of Boma and Matadi and the national capital, Kinshasa.
The company has cleared 2,000 hectares of land and planted NERICA-4 and 7 variety rice on 1,200 hectares using a Weaving Drill. The operations at Feronia Arable are fully mechanised using John Deere and Massey Ferguson tractors.
This crop is expected to be harvested and processed in February, 2012. After the rice is harvested Feronia Arable anticipates re-planting the land with edible beans with harvesting anticipated in May, 2012.
Feronia COO, Raymond Batanga, said: “This is an exciting milestone for Feronia’s arable farming operations. We have proven that we can source all the necessary inputs and equipment and mobilise the required expertise to implement large scale mechanised farming in the DRC. While we had planned to reach 2,000 ha on our first large scale planting, a delay in the arrival of our large horsepower tractors meant that our larger drills were not utilised throughout the entire sowing period and fewer hectares were sown.
“We are confident that this will not be an issue in our next rice planting season and are pleased to have completed the largest single rice planting in DRC – a huge milestone for Feronia’s arable operations.”
Source: Feronia
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024