The June 2012 IPC round estimated that 17.3 million people in the DRC are facing IPC phase 3 (crisis) and 4 (emergency) conditions. Of these, about 5.4 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance; 46 per cent of which are located in the eastern provinces (Orientale, North Kivu, South Kivu, Katanga and Maniema). The proportion of households with poor and borderline food consumption score in these provinces exceeds 20 per cent, with peaks among IDPs living in camps in the conflict affected areas (75 per cent).
The causes of food insecurity include conflict-driven population movements in the eastern provinces, associated with low access to basic social services, low agricultural productivity and chronic poverty. Since June 2012, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance estimates that 550,000 people have been displaced in Oriental, North Kivu, South Kivu, Maniema and Katanga Provinces increasing the total number of IDPs since 2009 to 2.36 million. Physical isolation resulting from poor transport infrastructure is contributing to food insecurity and to high rates of malnutrition and child mortality in areas in Bandundu, the Kasais, Maniema and Orientale.
Compared to the three-year average, price increases are noted for maize flour (+46 per cent) and palm oil (+76 per cent); the price of imported rice in 2011 and 2012 in the main urban markets is also well above the three years threshold. In August 2012, the price of cassava flour in Goma was 115 per cent above average. Food security trends in the last quarter of 2012 would hinge on security conditions in the eastern provinces.
October 2012
