Food insecurity remains one of the most severe and widespread humanitarian challenges in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, affecting an estimated 28 million people nationwide, making it one of the largest food crises in the world. The situation is particularly acute in the eastern provinces, notably North Kivu and South Kivu, where protracted conflict, mass displacement, and economic disruption have drastically undermined household food security. In these provinces, more than 90% of households are estimated to be experiencing acute food insecurity, with a significant proportion classified in crisis or emergency phases, which requires urgent humanitarian assistance. Multiple, interlinked factors continue to drive this crisis.
Escalating food prices, driven by market disruptions, insecurity along supply routes, and inflation, have reduced purchasing power for already vulnerable households. Staple food prices in some conflict-affected areas have increased by 30–50% over the past year, while household incomes have sharply declined due to the destruction of livelihoods, loss of agricultural assets, and restricted access to farmland. Agricultural production has been severely affected, with declining yields reported by up to 40% in certain rural zones because of displacement, lack of inputs, and insecurity during planting and harvest seasons.
As a coping mechanism, many families are forced to adopt negative survival strategies that further compromise their health and resilience. Recent assessments indicate that over 70% of affected households have reduced the number of daily meals, often limiting consumption to one meal per day. At the same time, families increasingly rely on low-cost, low-nutritional-value foods, leading to a deterioration in dietary diversity and nutritional quality. This trend has particularly severe consequences for children under five, pregnant and lactating women, and the elderly, contributing to rising levels of acute malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. In displacement sites and host communities, global acute malnutrition rates frequently exceed emergency thresholds, signaling a critical nutrition situation.
Forced displacement continues to exacerbate food insecurity, with millions of people uprooted from their homes and stripped of their traditional coping mechanisms. Displaced households often lack access to land, employment opportunities, and social support networks, leaving them almost entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance, which remains insufficient and underfunded. Without urgent, sustained action to stabilize food systems, protect livelihoods, and scale up emergency food and nutrition assistance, millions of families will continue to face hunger, malnutrition, and heightened protection risks, with long-term consequences for human capital and social stability in eastern DRC.
Operational Objective - To ensure emergency food distributions, provide targeted nutritional assistance to children and pregnant women, and implement cash-based transfers that strengthen household resilience.
