Threat of hunger at gates of Kinshasa, in DRC

Restrictions related to the CVIV-19 pandemic (containment, closing markets, curfews) have evil the economy of this area already fragile.

Le Monde

“It’s hard to eat here. There are no fields, no food, life is hard”, lament Albertine Nzale, the great customary chemistry of KinDuti, a rural locality of the large suburbs of Kinshasa. With its straw huts without attics, KinDiti is located at the end of a bumpy section drawn in the middle of the savannah in the municipality of Nsele, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

No crops or farm along this 35-kilometer journey, where one meets men pushing under a sun of lead bicycles charged with charcoal bags. Albertine, 80, is worried about the future of the village, calling for help: “There is no school, hospital. We need tools, agricultural machinery to cultivate The Earth. “Here, the vast majority of the population has difficulty finding what to feed in sufficient quantity, according to the testimonies collected by AFP.

In November 2021, the World Food Program (WFP) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) alerted the food crisis in their counter-DRC population, nearly 27 million people. A situation affecting not only conflict regions, but also “areas in and around the capital”.

“The fields are sometimes ravaged by wild pigs”, but some inhabitants are also “lazy and impatient”, preferring to depend on the manufacture of charcoal rather than agriculture, is around Nero Mokili, nursing Village.

Help of WFP and UNICEF

In KinDuti and its surroundings, “Everyone does not have a field to cultivate, so buy food owners, but most people do not have enough money”, nuance Fely Moba, a traditional leader of 58 years.

Restrictions related to the CVIV-19 pandemic (containment, closing markets, curfews) have improved the economy of this area already fragile. In March, WFP joined UNICEF (United Nations Fund for Children) and the government to launch a silver distribution project to the inhabitants to combat hunger.

This assistance covered the period from March to December 2021, with an amount of at least $ 402 per household. With this “cash distribution” project that concerns “21,000 households and about 130,000 beneficiaries”, WFP tries “to change the lives of people and empowering them”, explains to AFP SA program manager in the DRC, Mathilde Vaultier.

Beneficiaries in Kindi say they have spent money to meet their basic needs, food, child schooling, health care. Some have managed to invest some of this help in more sustainable and income-generating activities.

“We are at a step of hunger”

This is the case of Elisha Ngunza, 48 years old, holding a gargote. “During the confinement, the situation was very difficult, the money was not circulating. WFP’s help allowed me to pay for children’s tuition fees and strengthening my business,” says this mother of five children. Like her, the nurse Nero Mokili, who owns a pharmacy, says they have invested money in agriculture.

Farmer and owner of 20 hectares of forest, Pululu Maimona emphasizes having invested his money in his project of fish farming launched in 2019. “In October, I emptied my ponds and harvested for 300,000 Congolese francs [some 130 euros] big fish “, he welcomes himself.

“If people work a lot, food insecurity will end. (…) I do not only work for my family but for the whole community because, one says, only one works but several consume,” says, This 63-year-old man who dreams of engaging pigs. “Here we do not talk about famine”, but about 75% of people “are in a situation where they have difficulties” to feed, declares Mathilde Vaultier.

In Nsele, people are in a situation of food “stress” (they can support their food needs to the detriment of other basic needs). “We are at a step of hunger,” she says, and “this kind of project aims to prevent people from going into this precipice”.

/Media reports.