Land status of agricultural concessions in Kinshasa (D. R. Congo): Legal framework limitations to Production Incentive.

This article clarifies the land status of agricultural concessions of the Mont-Ngafula council in Kinshasa. This council is particular given that it has a hybrid land status which is both urban and rural. This therefore entails the application of the two land tenure systems depending on whether the area concerned is urban or rural. The results of this analysis highlights that since the enactment of the 1973 Land Act, access to agricultural land in this region rarely comply with legal procedure; most land occupants rather transact with various individuals who have customary rights over lands (traditional chiefs and customary landowners) instead meeting the competent services. As a matter of fact, from a legal standpoint, most of the occupants simply limit themselves to awarding a provisional occupancy contract, which is just a preparatory step to agricultural concession, the issuance of which appears to be less strenuous as per common practice in the constituency. The fact that land owners limit themselves at the stage of the provisional contract, usually far beyond the officially prescribed deadline, without even launching the application for the concession contract justifies the lack and poor level of development of occupied lands. Meanwhile, the value of these lands increases. The great trust gained by owners from the land administration (through the holding of provisional occupancy contract) and the payment of customary rights enables him/her to keep the funds in serenity and to receive yearly appreciation without an actual agricultural production. Thus, lands status obtained on the basis of this double recognition ensures an apparent land tenure security but does not promote agricultural production. In addition, the Land Act does not include any incentive instruments in this domain, and closer still, mechanisms set out in the law pertaining to the fundamental principles relating to agriculture are not at the verge of being instituted soon, much less the land reform policy initiated by the Congolese Government these past years.