Democratic Republic of the Congo - Situation report November 2017

Key points

• Violence has broken out in unexpected areas of the country, spreading from eastern provinces to central and southeastern areas as well. This has caused Africa’s largest internal displacement crisis, with an alarming humanitarian situation.
• Food insecurity has increased by 30 percent since 2016 due to a lack of access to food, suspended agricultural activities, insufficient food reserves and income, and the fact that previous harvests have been either looted or burnt as a result of the conflict. Between 40 and 60 percent of households were forced to adopt negative coping mechanisms.
• As agriculture is the only sector able to provide nutritious food and income, implementing agricultural activities and rehabilitating value chains are key activities to contribute to reducing food insecurity and malnutrition, generating socio-economic development, building resilience, stabilizing peace and building more prosperous futures.
• Given the recent deterioration of the humanitarian situation, FAO is scaling up its response and urgently requires USD 15 million by January 2018 to support families during the next planting season starting in March, allowing them to secure access to food and generate sufficient income to strengthen their livelihoods and return to a sense of normalcy.