| Yangambi | |
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Yangambi
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Democratic Republic of Congo |
| District | Tshopo |
| Territory | Isangi |
Yangambi is a city in the Isangi territory of Tshopo District, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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Yangambi is on the north side of the Congo River and lies on the R408 road which connects it to Kisangani to the east.[1] This road is unpaved, rarely used in the rainy season and difficult to use at all times of the year.[2] The roads linking Yangambi to Weko and Isangi are also very poor.[3] The river provides an alternative route.[2] The town is also served by the small Yangambi Airport.[4] Mean annual rainfall is 1,835 millimetres (72.2 in).[5] August is the wettest month and February the driest. The skies tend to be partly cloudy even during the drier seasons.[6]
A visitor in 1888 described Yangambi as "very prettily situated on a piece of flat ground, backed by a semi-circle of fine wooded hills about for hundred feet high, across which lies the road to Yambuya ... The channel in front of Yangambi has very little water ... Later on, in the dry season, one can walk right across this channel to the islands in front".[7]
During the colonial era, Yangambi was home to the Institut National pour les Études Agronomiques du Congo Belge (INEAC). The INEAC experimental fields and laboratories were built along a road parallel to the north bank of the Congo river, and along a road stretching northward from the river for about 25 kilometres (16 mi).[8] In the 1930s researchers at INEAC found the relationship between the tenera, dura and pisifera oil palms.[9] Oil palms have relatively low yield around Yangambi compared to coastal regions. This appears to be due to the lower night temperatures in the continental interior, which have a mean minimum at Yangambi of around 20 °C (68 °F).[10]
The center developed a number of varieties of soy beans for use in different parts of the country.[11] Early-maturing varieties yielded over 1,200 kg/ha of soybeans.[12] Field trials showed that inoculation could increase yields by 80% to 300%.[13] In the 1950s INEAC researchers discovered the 'Yangambi km 5' (AAA) dessert banana. This variety yields large numbers of small fruit with an excellent taste, is productive even on poor soils and is resistant to black leaf streak disease.[8] There is some evidence that this cultivar may have originated in southern Thailand, introduced to the Kilo-Moto region in northeastern Congo and then brought to Yangambi before World War II.[14]
More recently, the Institut Facultaire des Sciences Agronomiques, Yangami has undertaken studies with the International Food Policy Research Institute of Washington, D.C. to provide data to the government for use in developing an agricultural policy to improve crops yields in the country.[15]