Democratic Republic of the Congo
Ambassador
Prof. Aaron Kalala Karumba
Uvira,
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Ambassador’s Report
DR Congo is among countries with high malnutrition cases, my role will be to help communities to improve their health by eating safe and sufficient food. Teaching farmers and especially very poor farmers new agricultural approaches and working hard on food processing will be my pillars to reach food sovereignty in DR Congo.
Experience on Regenerative Agriculture in East Africa
I’m graduated in Development Economy and I get a PDC Certificate on October 2007 in Musoma, Tanzania taught by Geoff Lawton from Australia. I have just participated at International Permaculture Converse & Conferences IPC 9 in Lilongwe, Malawi and IPC-UK in London on September 2015.
I represented DR Congo in African Union as deputy chair at Rural economy, Agriculture and environment cluster since 2014-2022.
- in Ngozi at Ngozi University in favor of the Students of BAC-Agriculture, in Burundi on 27 April-01 May 2016 in partnership with DPR Spain nonprofit organization I taught students the permaculture principles.
- in Kinshasa: June 2013 with LUSH Cosmetic funds to support very poor people living under cutting trees in the forest of Kasangulu (Bas Congo and Bandudu) to be sold in Kinshasa. We gave training on Planting trees and how they can initiate small business out of deforestation.
- in Butembo-DRC: October 2014 at ITAV in collaboration with Permaculture Research International -Kenya in partnership with Isidore Permaculture USA.
- in Lubumbashi with support from Katanga Provincial Government funds youth were taught permaculture in order to sow possibility of earning money though sustainable agriculture instead of mining which destroy environment and human health.
- in Uvira, DRC: September 2017 I helped 45 women victims of sexual violence and discrimination to reintegrate to the community by using psychosocial techniques
- in Kalehe, Bukavu, DRC: May 2018 teaching permaculture principles and setting up permagarden in favor pygmies to help them to adapt to new dwellings and life out of the PNKB (Kahuzi Biega National Park) by practicing Permaculture techniques.
-since September 2021, I’m national consultant at Agro-Social Center in Gitega, Burundi of AKI Germany non-profit organization helping marginalized people to reintegrate in community though growing safe food using permaculture principles
Experience in food and nutrition
With the donors above, I made a map on how 5000 farmers, 1250 stakeholders, 500 students and other vulnerable in urban or villages by providing permaculture elements in a map such water management, food security, land and bio fertilizers, livestock, energy and waste management.
I worked with Prof. Howard Bradbury of National University of Australia to eliminate cyanide contained in bitter cassava by using wetting method.
We are working hardly with local experts how to increase poor farmers’ nutrition and income by transforming their agriculture production into juice, bread or flour.
