Yangambi
Encyclopedia
Yangambi is a city in the Isangi territory of Tshopo District, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Location

Yangambi is on the north side of the Congo River
Congo River
The Congo River is a river in Africa, and is the deepest river in the world, with measured depths in excess of . It is the second largest river in the world by volume of water discharged, though it has only one-fifth the volume of the world's largest river, the Amazon...

 and lies on the R408 road which connects it to Kisangani
Kisangani
Kisangani is the capital of Orientale Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the 3rd largest urbanized city in the country and the largest of the cities that lie in the tropical woodlands of the Congo....

 to the east.
This road is unpaved, rarely used in the rainy season and difficult to use at all times of the year.
The roads linking Yangambi to Weko
Weko
Weko is a community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo....

 and Isangi
Isangi
Isangi is a territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located in the Tshopo District to the west of Kisangani, and mostly to the south of the Congo River.The largest community is Yangambi...

 are also very poor.
The river provides an alternative route.
The town is also served by the small Yangambi Airport
Yangambi Airport
Yangambi Airport is a small airport serving the town of Yangambi, Democratic Republic of the Congo....

.
Mean annual rainfall is 1835 millimetres (72.2 in).
August is the wettest month and February the driest.
The skies tend to be partly cloudy even during the drier seasons.

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
Yambuya
Yambuya is a community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the Aruwimi River, roughly due north of Yangambi. The river is navigable as far as Yambuya, but is blocked by cataracts further upstream....

 ... 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".

Agricultural research

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 (15.5 mi).
In the 1930s researchers at INEAC found the relationship between the tenera, dura and pisifera oil palms.
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).

The center developed a number of varieties of soy beans for use in different parts of the country.
Early-maturing varieties yielded over 1,200 kg/ha of soybeans.
Field trials showed that inoculation could increase yields by 80% to 300%.
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.
There is some evidence that this cultivar may have originated in southern Thailand, introduced to the Kilo-Moto
Kilo-Moto
Kilo-Moto is a region in the far northeast corner of the Democratic Republic of the Congo where gold was discovered in the Ituri River by government prospectors in 1903...

 region in northeastern Congo and then brought to Yangambi before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

More recently, the Institut Facultaire des Sciences Agronomiques, Yangami has undertaken studies with the International Food Policy Research Institute
International Food Policy Research Institute
The International Food Policy Research Institute is an international agricultural research center founded in the early 1970s to improve the understanding of national agricultural and food policies to promote the adoption of innovations in agricultural technology...

of Washington, D.C. to provide data to the government for use in developing an agricultural policy to improve crops yields in the country.

Sources

|url=http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/12DF1000606655E6C1256F2D00484A0A-ocha_drcOrient031103.pdf
|title=Carte des Districts et Territoires de l'ORIENTALE
|publisher=Reliefweb
|date=October 2002
|accessdate=2011-10-08}}
|url=http://www.world-airport-codes.com/democratic-republic-of-the-congo/yangambi-7751.html
|title=Yangambi (YAN) Democratic Republic of the Congo
|accessdate=2011-10-10
|work=World Airport Codes}}
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