Introduction

Congo River is the largest river in the Western Central Africa but is the second longest in
Africa and its is also the deepest river in the world with measured depths in excess of
230 m . It is about 4, 374 in length and average discharge of 41 800 m3/s. Its width
depends on the location and time of the year but ranges from 0.8 to 16 km. Its drainage
basin covers 4,014,500 square kilometers. These river outflow the Atlantic Ocean. It
flows through the following drainage basins, "The Democratic Republic of Congo, the
People's Republic of the Congo, the Central Africa Republic and partially through
Zambia, Angola, Cameron and Tanzania". . Congo River discharges about 34 liters of
water per second into the sea. The Congo River has four sections: the headwaters, Upper
Congo, the Middle Congo and the Lower Congo.

Facts about the Congo River

Length 2,914 miles
Junction of Lualaba and
Source(s)
Luvua Rivers
Mouth Atlantic Ocean
Republic of Congo, Zaire,
Countries Flows
Angola, Zambia,
Through
Cameroon, Tanzania
Major Cities Novosobirsk, Barnaul,
Flows Mogochin, Akademgorodok
By/Through
Irrigation potential and water requirements (www.fao.org)

It is difficult to find reliable estimates of the irrigation potential of the Congo River
because it passes through very humid countries, like Zaire, the Central African Republic,
Congo and Angola. In fact, neither water nor land is a limiting factor to agricultural
development in these countries and other factors have to be taken into account in order to
have some kind of realistic estimates of potential.

Methods for assessing irrigation potential in these countries are described below:-

For Zambia a national water master plan exists. The identified irrigation potential in the
Congo/Zaire basin in Zambia has been estimated at 101000 ha, of which 15000 ha by
renewable groundwater and 20000 ha of wetlands.

For Burundi, about half of which is located in the Congo/Zaire basin, the irrigation
potential has been estimated at about 105000 ha in the basin, of which 75000 ha for fully
or partially controlled irrigation in the plains and the remaining area consisting of valley
bottoms

About 25 % of Rwanda is in the Congo/Zaire basin and the irrigation potential here is
estimated at 9000 ha, mainly consisting of valley bottoms.

Of the total irrigation potential of the Central African Republic, evaluated at 1.9 million
hectares, about 1.4 million hectares are estimated to be within the Congo/Zaire basin.

For Cameroon 50000 ha are estimated to be in the Congo/Zaire basin. For Congo the
potential is estimated at between 40000 and 340000 ha In this study, the rather arbitrary
upper estimate has been retained and 255000 ha are considered to be located in the
Congo/Zaire basin, which occupies 75 % of the country.

For Angola a figure of 6.7 million hectares exists for irrigation potential. According to
the Direction of the Hydraulical Service about 420000 ha could be irrigated at present,
considering land and water as well as human resources. The present study has evaluated
the irrigation potential at 3% of the area of the country, which corresponds to 3.7 million
hectares. Out of the 3.7 million hectares the Congo River compromises about 90000 ha
land.

Almost 99% of Zaire is located within the Congo/Zaire basin. About 75% of the country,
which is over 170 million hectares, is covered by natural forest, most of it untouched. Of
these 170 million hectares, about 139 million hectares are considered exploitable and
capable of producing 700 million m3 of industrial wood per year (or 5 m3 per ha). At
present only 0.5 million m3 per year is produced due mainly to infrastructure and
transport problems. Of the remaining 63 million hectares, only 6 million ha is cultivated.
Irrigation potential figures vary between 4 and 20 million hectares. While it is true that
the water resources of the country are abundant, it is not realistic to estimate that 20
million ha can be developed for irrigation, which is more than three times the total area
cultivated at present! Land suitable for agriculture has been estimated at 80 million ha.
When considering that no forest land will be converted into agricultural land, this area is
reduced to 60 million ha, about half of which is used for other purposes. Like for Angola,
this study estimates the irrigation potential at 3% of the total area of the country, or 7
million ha. This area requires 108.50 km3/year of water for irrigation, which is about 12
% of the internal renewable water resources of Zaire, estimated at 935 km3/year. Of these
7 million ha, 10000 ha are considered to be in the Nile basin and 10000 ha in the West
Central Coast region. The remaining area, 6.98 million hectares, is considered to be in the
Congo/Zaire basin.

Country Irrigation Gross potential irrigation water Area under

potential (ha) requirements irrigation (ha)
per ha (m³/ha total
per year) (km³/year)
Zambia 101000 19500 1.970 5000
Tanzania 0 13000 0.000 0
Burundi 105000 13000 1.365 14.400
Rwanda 9000 13000 0.117 2000
Central Africa 1400000 18000 25.200 0
Cameroon 50000 14000 0.700 1650
Congo 255000 13000 3.315 217
Angola 900000 20000 18.000 2000
Zaire 6980000 15500 108.190 10500
Sum of countries 9800000 158.857 35767
Total for 9800000 158.857
Congo/Zaire

Table: Congo/Zaire basin: irrigation potential, water requirements and areas under
irrigation