Agricultural Growth and Investment Options for Poverty Reduction in the D.R.Congo : A General Equilibrium Approach

This paper evaluates the contribution of agricultural growth to poverty reduction in the D.R.Congo over theprojection period 2013 - 2020. It raises questions over the investment options to sustain such a growth effort. We usea recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium model combined with survey-based microsimulation analysis atboth national and sub-national levels. We assume in the simulations that additional growth in total factor productivityis an exogenous factor and find the following results. First, we find that an 8.21% agricultural annual growth rate is moreeffective at reducing poverty and achieves the first MDG goal by 2020. Second, we identify agricultural investmentpriorities and the required levels of public spending to achieve such growth and poverty reduction goals. We furtheranalyze the growth at the subsector level and find that cereals and roots are more pro-poor. From this perspective,agricultural strategy based on expanding food crops production should be afforded the highest priority