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CROP AND FOOD SUPPLY SITUATION IN KINSHASA AND THE PROVINCES OF BAS-CONGO AND BANDUNDU OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO - 8 November 2000

Year of publication 2000

Author Trade and Markets Division

Product type Book (stand-alone)

Series title Special Reports and Alerts

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) Living standards in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been declining since the mid-1970s, largely due to poor economic management and civil strife. The situation has been aggravated by the war since 1998 with associated massive population displacements. In 1998, per capita income was estimated at US$110, among the lowest in the world. GNP growth rates of -14.7 percent in 1999 and -5.5 percent in the first semester of 2000 show continuing declines in living conditions. In Kinshasa, 70 p ercent of the population, which is currently estimated at between 6-7 million, cannot afford US$1 a day for food. Chronic malnutrition affects 18 percent of children in the inner city and over 30 percent in the outskirts where war-displaced people have been settling. In reaction to this mounting economic and food security crisis, the Government of DRC requested FAO to send a mission to assess the food situation in the capital city, Kinshasa, and the surrounding provinces of Bas-Congo and Ba ndundu, which supply a significant proportion of the city's food requirements. An assessment of the situation for the whole country could not be undertaken due to the on-going war.

Language English

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