Democratic Republic Of Congo
Feronia is an agro-food company with operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
At the heart of Feronia is a long-established palm oil company, Les Plantations et Huileries du Congo S.A. (PHC), incorporated under the laws of the DRC. The Company owns three plantations in the remote areas of Lokutu, Yaligimba and Boteka.
When Feronia acquired 76.17% of the shares of the Company PHC from a branch of Unilever plc in September 2009, the three plantations were suffering from several years of lack of investment and disruptions caused by the conflicts in the DRC.
The Corporation's first priorities were to rebuild the company and resume production in order to secure its future and that of more than 3,800 internal employees and so many other thousands of jobs that the Corporation generates through its presence in the region. These efforts have included the rehabilitation of the palm oil plants on the Lokutu and Boteka plantations and the construction of a new plant in Yaligimba, which began operations in 2013. The company has also rehabilitated internal road networks, implemented a program to replace palm trees that are more than 25 years old and therefore less productive with new palm trees, and is working to rehabilitate and enrich the social infrastructure.
Feronia plantations produce Crude Palm Oil (CPO) and Palm Kernel Oil (PKO). CPO is part of the traditional staple diet of the Congolese and, through the internal sale of Feronia products in the DRC, the company contributes to the reduction of dependence on imported products and improves food security and the quality of products consumed locally.
Feronia's vision was to transform PHC into a profitable and sustainable agricultural business that benefits local communities, society at large and inspires investment in the region.
To achieve this vision, PHC has put in place a program of investment and improvement of its operations, skills & capacities of its local staff, through the recruitment of technical experts made available by AMSCO.
It is thanks to Feronia's vision that the partnership between PHC and AMSCO was born. In its program of investment and improvement of its operations, skills & capacities of its local staff, PHC requested the intervention of AMSCO in the provision of experts, in order to achieve its development objectives.
Since 2016, AMSCO has placed nearly 25 experts of various nationalities to implement this development plan and, above all, to transfer skills to local staff.
AMSCO's involvement has been in the field of:
In addition, the following initiatives are being implemented by PHC: