Africa’s sunflower queen’s big dreams
ROSE NGOY, BIRD IT'S an intoxicating sight - and a rare one in this part of Africa. Gigantic yellow sunflowers seem to almost leap from the verdant green of the fields around them, their faces tilted upwards, gazing at the brightness of a vast morning sky. The five hectares of sunflowers here at the farm that Ange Kanonga runs are both an experiment and another step towards agricultural self-sufficiency in the region. DR Congo's mineral-rich Katanga province has long used its vast mineral wealth to simply import the food it needs, with relatively little investment in agriculture beyond smallholder subsistence…