FEATURE: People in DRC’s violence-ridden areas receive food assistance

Since 2017, Ituri province has experienced armed inter-communal conflict, so access to food is a daily challenge.

CAPE TOWN, May 5 (ANA) – Global humanitarian organisation Action Against Hunger has said it is supporting food security and community markets while helping to revive local agriculture in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s conflict-ridden areas.

At the Largu Food Market, in Ituri, eastern DRC, merchants and customers crowd each other and shout over the noise of the stalls. Cécile Tabo Mapamadjo, 28, carefully examines the food she has chosen.

“Here at the market, I found rice, fish, beans, but also corn, cassava and palm oil. I am very happy with what I received here, because I know that we will be able to eat well and that the children will be happy,” said Cécile.

When it is time to pay, she pulls out coloured papers with prices and photos of food printed on them. Food vouchers.

Cécile is one of more than 4,400 families who are part of an Action Against Hunger emergency food assistance project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Food for Peace programme.

The organisation said that by connecting buyers with local traders, its approach combines food assistance and local economic recovery while allowing programme participants like Cécile to make their own food choices and maintain autonomy. The food vouchers are valued based on market prices analyses and calculated to help people meet all of their daily caloric needs.

The country’s eastern North-Kivu and Ituri provinces have been subjected to violence carried out by dozens of armed groups in which thousands of civilians have been killed or forced from their homes.

Since 2017, Ituri province has experienced armed inter-communal conflict, so access to food is a daily challenge. People have fled violence, lost their property and livelihoods, and abandoned their farmland to seek safety. This combination of factors, along with long-term poverty in the region, has increased food insecurity, Action Against Hunger said.

“In recent years, there have been inter-ethnic conflicts here. Because of that, a lot of people moved, a lot of people were killed. We all live in a state of displacement, which causes a lot of suffering,” Cécile explained.

Cécile and her husband are agricultural day labourers, but their income is not enough to feed their four children. The food vouchers help bridge the gap. As part of the programme, Cécile is also learning about nutrition through cooking demonstrations and sessions about how to detect malnutrition in their children at home.

Action Against Hunger teams in Ituri have also begun a new agriculture revival project to help these conflict-affected communities grow more food close to home.

“People forget their lands and become displaced. This creates difficulties to cultivate the land even when they return,” said Georges Lokana Budza Loga, a farmer and local leader.

He received agricultural training on techniques to plant seeds, seedbeds and nurseries, which he is now sharing with other farmers.

Equipped with new agricultural tools, seeds and training, nearly 2,200 families in Ituri have planted their own fields and vegetable gardens. Each family has, on average, produced more than a ton of cabbage, onions, spinach and amaranth.

“We thank Action Against Hunger because they did not just do one job. They did at least three different jobs. They gave the seeds to the populations, they gave food to the people and they also helped the children who were in poor health and malnourished,” said Georges.

– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher