Sustainable value chains

Helena Fatuma is the president of a local women’s association in Yanonge, which produces fish in small ponds to supply the local market. Due to overfishing in the Congo River, there is a pressing need for sustainable animal protein alternatives to feed the growing local population – a trend that the group of women identified and are trying to address. In 2019, they were selected by CIFOR-ICRAF to receive training on improved fish farming techniques and financial skills. Fatuma’s association is one of more than 60 small enterprises in the Yangambi landscape currently receiving support to develop sustainable businesses.

Most households in the city of Kisangani use charcoal for cooking, which is supplied by neighboring forest communities, such as Yanonge. Alphonse Selemani is one of many local charcoal producers, an activity that helps him earn money to send his children to school. In 2020, he joined a producers’ association that is planting trees in agroforestry systems to support charcoal production. They are also making carbonization more efficient which allows them to reduce wood harvesting, as well as improving members’ commercialization skills to make their activities more profitable. Selemani is one of more than 300 local entrepreneurs in the Yangambi landscape currently receiving this type of support.

How can we support sustainable woodfuel value chains across sub-Saharan Africa? CIFOR-ICRAF interventions in Kenya, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia are testing innovative approaches to secure clean biomass energy access for Africa’s growing population.

The organization OCEAN is producing charcoal briquettes by using sawmill waste in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The briquettes offer the urban population a sustainable wood fuel alternative to cook their meals.

Georges Mumbere, CIFOR junior expert, presents the work of the project Governing Multifunctional Landscapes (GML) to support agroforestry systems - in which trees are grown among crops or pasture - as a sustainable solution to supply firewood and charcoal and prevent further deforestation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.