Urban horticulture has returned to the spotlight at the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ministry of Rural Development, drawing attention to a field in which Minister Grégoire Mutshail Mutomb built much of his career. On July 3, 2026, the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority published two provisional contract awards for the acquisition of agricultural equipment for the provincial offices of the National Urban and Peri-Urban Horticulture Service (Senahup) across the country’s 26 provinces.

Together, the two contracts are valued at $9.95 million, including taxes. Lot 1 was provisionally awarded to RMB SARL for $6.17 million, while Lot 2 went to SCP Sagricons SARL for $3.77 million.

The awards remain provisional and must still go through the procedures required under Congolese public procurement regulations before they can be finalized and implemented. More significantly, they concern a sector that Grégoire Mutshail has known for decades.

A Long History in Urban Horticulture

Long before joining the government, Mutshail spent much of his early career working in urban horticulture. An agronomist by training, he became provincial coordinator of the National Urban and Peri-Urban Horticulture Service in Lubumbashi in September 2000.

With support from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), he led the Urban and Peri-Urban Horticulture Development Support Project in Lubumbashi. The initiative sought to raise the incomes of market gardeners while improving their access to equipment, land, credit and training, with the broader goal of strengthening food security for urban households.

In an FAO publication, Mutshail documented the project’s results between 2002 and 2008. The land under cultivation by participating growers expanded from 129 hectares to 524 hectares, while the proportion of beneficiaries able to save money rose from 18% to 98%. The estimated net monthly income of a market gardener cultivating 500 square meters reached $120.

The study also reported improvements in household food security among participating families. The average number of meals per day increased from 1.8 to 3.3 for children and from 1.3 to 2.4 for adults. The findings helped establish urban horticulture as a practical tool for boosting incomes, improving food security and promoting economic inclusion in low-income urban communities.

Contractors Face Questions

The newly awarded contracts build on that same area of work, but on a national scale. Unlike the Lubumbashi project, which focused on a single city, the new procurement covers equipment purchases for Senahup’s provincial offices across all 26 provinces.

Now serving as Minister of rural development, Mutshail has returned to a sector in which he previously worked as both a technical specialist and field manager. After serving as minister of agriculture in the Suminwa I government, he now oversees a ministry where urban and peri-urban horticulture could once again become a government priority.

Whether that ambition succeeds will depend not only on public funding but also on the ability of the selected contractors to deliver the promised equipment effectively.

SCP Sagricons SARL, the provisional winner of Lot 2, says it specializes in architecture, civil engineering and project management. Its chief executive, Daudet Kabenji Kabuika, announced in September 2024 that the company had signed a contract with the city of Goma to build a fire station and train a firefighting brigade.

By contrast, little publicly available information could be found about RMB SARL, the provisional winner of the $6.17 million Lot 1 contract. Public records do not clearly identify the company’s management, technical track record or previous experience supplying agricultural or tillage equipment.

As the procurement process moves toward final approval, the capacity of both contractors to deliver the equipment as planned is likely to receive closer scrutiny.

Timothée Manoke