Nearly half of the Congolese population (40%) is affected by varying levels of chronic food insecurity, according to the results of the second cycle of the integrated food security classification framework (IPC). According to these data collected after a study of more than 100 million Congolese across the national territory, a high level of persistence of acute food insecurity is reported.
These figures continue to increase over time in the DRC. 13 provinces out of the 26 in the DRC and 77 territories out of the 145 were taken as the statistical unit. The factors that favor this alarming situation are still present. These include conflicts and armed violence, natural disasters, disease, low agricultural production and currency depreciation. The most affected provinces include Kasaï, North Kivu, Ituri, Bas-Uélé, Haut-Uélé, Equateur, Tshuapa, Tshopo, Kwilu, Kwango, Maï-Ndombe.
Thus, these IPC figures, revealed on March 5, 2024, indicate that nearly 15.8 million people are in severe chronic food insecurity, 25.1 million are in moderate chronic food insecurity. The city of Kinshasa is mildly food insecure with approximately 11.7 million of its residents experiencing minimal food insecurity.
For the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri alone, last year’s report showed 6.7 million people affected by food insecurity, which already represented a 10% increase compared to the year 2022.
In 2023, the European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) provided an invaluable contribution of US$14.5 million to address the escalating humanitarian crisis in the DRC . This funding enabled WFP to provide lifesaving assistance to vulnerable populations in Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu through cash assistance, responding to the immediate needs of the ongoing crisis.
The WFP has always affirmed its desire to intensify its assistance programs to improve livelihoods. However, it clarifies that as conflicts continue, humanitarian needs are increasingly great, and it urgently needs $397 million to provide essential food and nutritional assistance in eastern DRC and a total of $543 million to continue operations across the country. Last month, the WFP announced that it was restricting its food assistance in order to meet priority cases in the country.
The DRC needs greater investments in agriculture and rural development to reverse this catastrophic trend against hunger. Agriculture has been declared a priority for more than 40 years but the budget allocated to it still remains less than 5%. There is opportunity to do better because the DRC has more than 80 million hectares of arable land and its bodies of water and forests. It should also be noted that 40% of Congolese children are stunted as a result of undernourishment.
The DRC remains one of the biggest food crises in the world, and hunger looms over the country to the point that all it takes is one shock to plunge millions more people into extreme food insecurity.
Using the IPC classification and analytical approach, governments, UN agencies, NGOs and other stakeholders work together to determine the severity and scale of acute and chronic food insecurity situations. and malnutrition in the DRC, according to internationally recognized standards. The Integrated Food Security Classification (IPC) Framework is an innovative multi-stakeholder initiative to improve analysis and decision-making in food security and nutrition.
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2024-03-06 08:52:09
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