CKID

Overview

CKID (Congo-Kinshasa Innovation Durable) is a DRC-based agro-industrial project developing solar-powered cassava processing mini-factories in rural communities. The project integrates renewable energy, local agricultural sourcing, water infrastructure, and value-added processing to transform fresh cassava into products including fufu flour, gluten-free cassava flour, native starch, and animal feed. By processing cassava close to production areas, in selected quality-soil sites, the project aims to reduce post-harvest losses, improve product quality, increase farmer incomes, and increase yields while stimulating rural economic development.
The project is designed to modernize one of the DRC’s most important agricultural value chains – cassava- while strengthening food security and reducing dependence on diesel-powered processing. It combines renewable energy to rural industrialization, creating employment opportunities, expanding market access for smallholder farmers, and promoting more sustainable agricultural production. As the project scales, it also seeks to support deforestation-free supply chains, responsible land management, and circular resource use through future waste valorization initiatives.

The Challenge

The Democratic Republic of the Congo faces significant constraints across its cassava sector, including limited access to electricity, inefficient manual processing, high post-harvest losses, low-value agricultural production, and widespread rural poverty. Cassava remains the country’s primary staple crop, yet most processing is carried out using traditional methods that limit productivity, product quality, and farmer incomes.

At the same time, expanding agricultural production presents risks of deforestation and land degradation if growth is not managed sustainably. Rural communities also face limited industrial infrastructure, weak market connectivity, and insufficient investment in value-added processing. These structural challenges restrict economic opportunities while increasing pressure on natural resources and limiting the development of resilient agricultural value chains.

Canopy Trust Involvement – Technical Assistance

Canopy Trust’s proposed technical assistance package is designed as a comprehensive support that strengthens the project’s commercial viability and its environmental and social performance prior to investment.

The technical assistance programme includes an Deforestation impact Assessment,an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), as well as financial modelling and market assessment, and soil feasibility studies. Together, these activities will validate the project’s business model, confirm compliance with deforestation-free requirements, assess environmental and social risks, strengthen supply-chain traceability, and establish a robust framework for responsible project expansion. The programme is also intended to support investment readiness by improving financial planning, governance, and operational scalability while ensuring alignment with Canopy Trust’s sustainability objectives.

Our Target Impact

The project seeks to build upon CKID’s operational experience with its existing solar-powered cassava processing facility to create a scalable model for sustainable rural agro-industrial development. By integrating renewable energy, local sourcing, and value-added agricultural processing, the project aims to increase farmer incomes, strengthen food security, generate rural employment, and improve access to modern processing infrastructure.

The model also brings strong value for local communities, with both Electricity and water access, along with job creation, aiming at curbing rural exodus. With 7 boreholes drilled to supply potable water to the factory, village and irrigation.