Uncertainty, displacement of populations, restrictions linked to Coronavirus … For all these reasons, the food situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is deteriorating and this worries the UN. More than 27 million people are on the brink of starvation.
The World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have just conducted a study among 60 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including in urban areas.
According to this study, more than 27 million people, or almost one in three Congolese, are in stages 3 and 4 of acute food insecurity, ie the stages before starvation, explains Nourou Macki Tall., Deputy FAO Representative in the DRC. This is three times more than three years ago.
“In particular, they adopt survival strategies, that is, skipping at least one meal a day and within the family it has priorities, that is, who should eat. It is internally displaced persons and refugees who are most affected, in addition to other populations that are already in a precarious situation, especially with the impact of Covid-19. “People cannot diversify their sources of income to access markets if there is uncertainty in the same markets, especially in the most affected provinces, North Kivu and South Kivu,” he said.
Immediate food assistance and save the agricultural campaign
“The first immediate measure is immediate food assistance in the form of food or cash, where there are functioning markets. The second immediate measure is to provide these populations with funds to save the agricultural campaign in May and the agricultural campaign in September. More than 80% of producers do not have access to quality seeds, explains Nourou Macki Tall, FAO’s Deputy Representative for the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Also read: DRC: FAO’s fears of food crisis
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