More than 25.8 million Congolese face high levels of food insecurity

2023-06-10 14:37:48

According to a May 29 press release from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), “Food insecurity in the DRC over the past five years remains one of the highest in the world. It places vulnerable populations in a difficult situation”. Food insecurity is the inability of a country to guarantee all segments of the population access to an adequate, balanced and regular food supply. Hunger is present in many families.

The statement also reports that the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis published by the government reveals that 25.8 million people, or a quarter of the population, are still facing high levels of food crisis. . The IPC is a multi-stakeholder initiative to improve food security and nutrition analysis and decision-making.

“Government delegates, UN agencies, NGOs and other stakeholders work together to determine the severity and scale of situations of acute and chronic food insecurity and acute malnutrition according to internationally recognized standards”. In Congo, food insecurity is caused by poor harvests, displacement due to violence, disease, unemployment and collapsing infrastructure. The provinces of Kasaï, Tanganyika, Nord-Ubangi, Kasaï-Central, Nord-Kivu and Sud-Kivu present the highest rates of food insecurity. It is difficult to explain the problems of food insecurity in a country bathed in sunshine, watered by abundant rains, with vast expanses of arable land, not to mention rivers, lakes, rivers full of fish. Good governance could have made it possible to achieve food self-sufficiency and export agricultural surpluses. Agriculture would have allowed the country to grow rich and fight against poverty.

We often forget that the industrialized countries are above all great agricultural powers. Price fluctuations and the continual depreciation of the currency contribute to depriving a large part of the population of access to sufficient food.

Furthermore, the deficiency of the transport network and means of communication constitutes another major problem in the marketing of food crops as well as in the distribution of inputs within the country. Since its independence in 1960, the country has not built a single meter of railway but has deteriorated what existed. The lack of railway and port capacities is to be deplored. It often happens that foodstuffs rot in railway stations or in ports. Didn’t the British journalist and explorer Henry Morton Stanley claim in the 19th century that “without a railway, the Congo is not worth a penny”.

The FAO and the WFP (World Food Programme) estimate the number of people in crisis or food emergency situations in North and South Kivu and Ituri at 6.7 million. This represents a 10% increase over last year. UN agencies report that record levels of hunger require livelihoods support and long-term investment to help resolve the crisis. According to the FAO, “the DRC urgently needs additional financing to stimulate agricultural production and promote the diversification of food and sources of income”.

FAO needs more than $106 million to help around 1.8 million people in the crop, livestock and fish farming sectors in 2023. WFP is seeking more than $257 million to maintain the essential programs over the next six months. Funding remains to be found at a time when the main donor countries are diverting their aid to Ukraine.

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Gaston Mutamba Permission