In eastern Congo, 100 kilometers from Kisangani, in the heart of the Congo Basin forest, lies the scientific city of Yangambi. The largest tropical research station in the world during Belgian colonization, it was the headquarters of INEAC, renamed after the country’s independence INERA, the National Institute for Agricultural Studies and Research. Since the 1930s, it has housed a reference library for agronomy and the largest herbarium in Central Africa. Their conservation is a challenge.
From our special correspondent back from Yangambi,
” Here is the library that has documents that focus only on agronomy. Dieu Merci Assumani, the director of the Inera research center in Yangambi, is very proud to show us around the library. Founded in 1935 by the Belgian colonial authorities to promote the development of Congolese agriculture, it is a reference in the field and researchers come from all over the world to explore its works.
A treasure watched over by Christian Besombi Afanta, the head of the library: “ You see here, unlike other establishments, we have chosen a classification by country and not by theme. »
And Thank God Assumani to add that throughout its history, INERA has always collaborated with different countries. Moreover, the oldest book on the shelves comes from Belgium and dates from 1874. Despite a long period during which the premises were abandoned in the 1960s and 1970s, the books there are surprisingly well preserved for an establishment in the middle of the Congo Basin rainforest.
This does not prevent the teams from thinking about the next challenge that awaits them: that of digitization. It has not yet started since INERA is still looking for funding for its implementation.
Another Yangambi treasure, this remote corner of the rainforest is home to the largest herbarium from central Africa. It contains, according to Papa Elasi, botanist and responsible for the place, nearly 40% of the vegetation of the Congo. An invaluable heritage that is currently being digitized thanks to the support of the Botanical Garden of Meise in Belgium.
The image is stored first in the hard disk. Then we send the copy to Belgium before having our own website.
Papa Elasi, botanist and head of the herborium