Agriculture has been identified as a priority sector for economic growth and poverty reduction in the Democratic Republic of Congo. To this effect, a grant for a Rural Infrastructure Development Support Project approved on 11 November 2011 in Tunis by the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, will enhance the government's effort to improve food security and poverty reduction. It will further improve the people's well-being, and contribute to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. The USD 79.1 million grant from African Development fund (ADF), the concessional window of the AfDB Group, will finance rural roads rehabilitation, develop agricultural produce marketing and storage infrastructure, as well as provide rural drinking water and support capacity building.

Following the Board's approval, Josephine Mwangi-Mutuura, a manager in the Agriculture and Agro-industry Division, said: "Poverty reduction and food security through improved marketing and transport facilities and enhanced agricultural productivity and capacity building have always been at the center stage of the AfDB's development strategy in the Democratic Republic of Congo." She noted that the project is located in high agricultural potential provinces which are however seriously hampered by poor road network, has only one railway line and inadequate waterways. "The essentially southern RD Congo zone which will benefit from an ADF motorable road interconnections and access provision to farms and markets project include Bas-Congo, Bandundu, Kasai West, Kasai East and Katanga", Mrs. Mwangi-Mutuura said. The grant will be implemented in the next 5 years.