Acute hunger at staggering levels in DR Congo, say FAO, WFP

Geneva, 6 Apr (Kanaga Raja) – Around 27.3 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have said. According to the latest Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, this has made the central African country host to the highest number of people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance in the world.

“For the first time ever we were able to analyze the vast majority of the population, and this has helped us to come closer to the true picture of the staggering scale of food insecurity in the DRC,” said Peter Musoko, the WFP representative in the DRC.

“This country should be able to feed its population and export a surplus. We cannot have children going to bed hungry and families skipping meals for an entire day,” he added.

“The recurring conflicts in eastern DRC and the suffering they bring remain of great concern. Social and political stability is essential to strengthen food security and boost the resilience of vulnerable populations,” said Aristide Ongone Obame, FAO Representative in the DRC.

“We need to urgently focus on growing food where it is needed most, and on keeping people’s sustenance-giving animals alive. The main agricultural season is around the corner and there is no time to waste,” he added.

FAO/WFP said that the latest results indicate that approximately a third of the population analyzed is experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above), with 6% to 7% in Emergency (IPC Phase 4), adding up to 6.7 million people in this situation.

The highest number of people in high acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above) peaked in September 2020, which coincided with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing the Congolese authorities to put in place restrictive measures, they added.

“In the same period, an increase in localized conflicts triggered population displacement, which, combined with the ailing economy, led to higher than usual levels of acute food insecurity.”

Although the situation remains alarming, the February 2021 IPC analysis (28% of the population analysed in IPC Phase 3 or above) shows a slight improvement in the prevalence compared to July 2020 (33% of the population analysed in IPC Phase 3 or above), said FAO/WFP.

According to FAO/WFP, it is expected that approximately 26.2 million people (27% of the 96 million people analyzed) will be in high acute food insecurity (IPC Phases 3 & 4), including more than 5.6 million (5.82%) in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) between August and December 2021.

FAO/WFP said that the assumptions for this estimate include the likely continuation of armed and inter-communal conflicts in the eastern and north-eastern regions of the country and the resulting displacement of people, the COVID-19 pandemic, and poor macroeconomic performance.

“Rising food prices and erratic rainfall are also expected to keep the number of acutely food-insecure people in DRC high over the projection period,” they added.

FAO/WFP noted that the Democratic Republic of Congo has been engulfed in a complex humanitarian crisis for decades, fueled by armed conflict, natural disasters and disease outbreaks.

While the poverty rate of the largest country in Sub-Saharan Africa has fallen slightly over the past two decades, particularly in rural areas, the DRC nonetheless remains one of the poorest countries in the world, they added.

“The crisis context is aggravated by the political standstill, the slowdown in economic growth, and structural weaknesses in terms of development,” said FAO/WFP.

To date, over 120 armed groups are active in the east of the country, uprooting more than 5.2 million people from their homes. As a result, fragmented armed groups often prevent civilians from accessing their fields, they added.

War and unrest have been the most protracted in North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri, and Tanganyika and central Kasai provinces more recently.

In the eastern provinces, the situation remains particularly volatile and cyclical, heavily impacting food security and driving millions into high acute food insecurity, said FAO/WFP.

The country has suffered some of the most severe Ebola outbreaks the world has ever seen, second only to the West Africa epidemic, which claimed over 11,000 lives, FAO/WFP noted.

“The country was also faced by the COVID-19 pandemic, which continues to negatively affect the economy and the macro-economic framework.”

FAO/WFP also said the country’s measles outbreak was compounded by low immunization coverage in vulnerable communities, malnutrition, weak public health systems, outbreaks of other diseases with epidemic potential, poor access to health care for vulnerable populations and insecurity, which hampered the response in some areas.

“The DRC continues to struggle with malaria, which affects all provinces of the country and is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality.”

FAO/WFP said nearly 70% of the Congolese population live in rural areas, mainly engaging in cropping, fishing, and livestock farming, in precarious conditions and absolute poverty despite the immense potential.

They noted that the absence or poor state of road and communication infrastructure are major casual factors as the rural population is kept in isolation.

FAO/WFP said that the economy of DRC has declined drastically since the mid-1980s, despite being home to vast potential in natural resources and mineral wealth.

In 2018, 72% of the population, especially in the North West and Kasai regions, lived in extreme poverty on less than $1.90 a day, according to the World Bank.

FAO/WFP said that in 2020, the country experienced its first recession in 18 years as a result of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The DRC’s real GDP contracted by 1.7% in 2020 after increasing by 4.4% in 2019 and 5.8% in 2018, they added. – Third World Network

Published in SUNS #9320 dated 7 April 2021