Poor season B harvest and an early lean season expected in the Northeast and Center-East

The month of July 2018 marked the end of the season B harvest of staple crops in the Northeast and in the Center-East, which is estimated to be below the average of the last two seasons. This poor production will lead to short stock duration and an earlier than usual lean season that will likely start a month sooner than normal in August 2018. More than half of the population of these areas will fall into Crisis (IPC Phase 3) and will depend on food goods from neighboring provinces and imports from neighboring countries to stock markets.

The relative calm observed in Ituri province, the continued awareness raising of local authorities on the return of populations, and the difficult conditions in places of displacement, have favored the return of nearly 150,000 displaced persons (OCHA) to their places of origin in Djugu territory where around 21 percent of IDPs left since the beginning of the crisis. These returnees have lost their last two agricultural seasons and will face a significant food deficit that could worsen throughout the lean season.

In Uvira territory, South Kivu Province, the last interethnic fighting in June 2018 displaced around 76,000 people, killed livestock including cattle, and destroyed harvest. This situation could have immediate negative effects on the food security of these populations during the period of transhumance for pastoralists, and the harvest and preparation of agricultural season A for farmers in this area that is considered the agropastoral breadbasket of South Kivu.

In Kasai Province, about 4,000 displaced persons have returned out of the 11,000 people who abandoned their villages in April 2017, due to the violence in the Kasai region and the tribal fighting in this part of south Kasai. The situation of these returned persons who live primarily with local families remains precarious and deserves attention and assistance to prepare for the next agricultural season A for which work will begin in September.