UN food agency finds significant food insecurity in areas of Kinshasa

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has found significant levels of caloric deficiency and food insecurity in poor and densely populated areas of the capital, Kinshasa. This finding results from a survey conducted in June in the city’s Masina Pascal and Kingasani Mont-Kali communes. Jean-Pierre Renson of the FAO's emergency division told IRIN on Friday that while these findings were unrepresentative of all areas of the city, they probably reflected the situation in Kinshasa's poorest neighbourhoods. He added that surveys were planned for other Kinshasa neighbourhoods, as well as for other cities across the country. The average daily caloric intake in the two districts was found to be 1,381 calories, as opposed to the daily amount of 2,300 recommended by nutritionists as the minimum necessary to enable a person to lead an active and healthy life. The deficit of 919 calories per day represents a 40 percent shortfall. Compared to the sub-Saharan average of 2,150 calories per day per person and the global average of 2,720 calories per day per person, this represents relative deficits of about 36 percent and 49 percent, respectively. Lack of protein For proteins, the deficit is even more striking, with Kinshasa residents consuming on average 33 grammes(g) per person per day, as opposed to the daily recommended 70g. The importance in residents' diet of bread, fish, milk and canned tomatoes - which must be imported from areas outside the capital - "indicates the degree of vulnerability to which people of Kinshasa are exposed", the FAO says. FAO reports that the primary constraint for Kinshasa residents is the "very weak purchase power" of households. The average daily household expenditure for food was found to be 822 Congolese francs, or US $2.50 (with US $1 = 320 francs). Per person, this equals 93.4 francs, or 29 cents per day. FAO noted that these findings corresponded with Kinshasa's high rate of unemployment (22 percent) or underemployment in the informal sector (33 percent), according to the survey. Poor transportation infrastructure, dilapidated vehicles, and the lack and expense of replacement parts have also contributed significantly to the deterioration of food security in Kinshasa. The report also notes that the annual intake of fish in Kinshasa from the Congo River has plummeted from 1,500 kg per fisherman in 1991 to 675 kg in 2000, due to both the inability of fishermen to afford proper equipment and the overexploitation by a significant increase in the number of people pulling fish from the river. The average size of the Kinshasa household was found to be 8.8 people, an increase of 10 percent from the year 2000. It can be explained in part by the arrival in the capital of populations fleeing conflict zones and poverty in rural areas, as well as by a growth in population. FAO, with financing from the governments of Belgium, Japan, and USA, is planning to provide 13,500 households deemed to be the most at-risk with seeds, tools and fishing equipment. The study also highlighted the situation in the central DRC province of Kasai Oriental and the southern province of Katanga where, despite a stabilisation of food prices, an "alarming shortfall" of caloric and protein intake, due largely to unemployment, was found. FAO expressed particular concern for the hundreds of thousands of people living in areas of Katanga inaccessible to humanitarian assistance due to continued military activity. For a copy of the report, contact FAO at [email protected]