By AFP<\/p>\n
Rising prices for food, sent soaring by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, are stoking fears of hunger and turmoil in a troubled corner of the Democratic Republic of Congo.<\/p>\n
In this vast, poor and fragile country in the heart of Africa, three-quarters of households live below the poverty threshold.<\/p>\n
But precarity is especially keen in the DRC's northeast, where the economy is hobbled by geographical remoteness and decades of violence.<\/p>\n
\"The authorities need to see what they can do, otherwise we are going to die of hunger,\" said Pascaline Buhume, a food hawker in Bukavu, a city on the southern flank of Lake Kivu which separates the DRC from Rwanda.<\/p>\n
The local price of corn meal, rice, sugar, oil and tomatoes have all shot up, posing a mighty challenge for those who have to survive on a couple of dollars a day.<\/p>\n
A 50-kilo (110-pound) sack of sugar which previously cost the equivalent of $43 now goes for $60, said Buhume.<\/p>\n
A 20-kilo canister of cooking oil now costs $45 instead of $30, and a 25-kilo sack of rice has risen from $18 to $20.<\/p>\n
A worried mother-of-five pointed out that a loaf of bread that previously went for 1,000 Congolese francs (50 cents) now cost 1,200 francs.<\/p>\n
Janvier Mizo Kabare, president of a Kinshasa-based consumer rights group called LICOSKI, said Bukavu was an inflationary hotspot, suffering not just from a \"dizzying spiral\" in food costs but also a worrying rise in the price of fuel.<\/p>\n
The average cost for a tanker bringing in petrol from across the border has risen from $726 to $900, said Urbain Kange, secretary of Bukavu's fuel industry association.<\/p>\n
\"We are doing what we can, but our suppliers in Tanzania, Rwanda and in Kenya tell us there is a shortage at their end,\" he explained.<\/p>\n
Several petrol stations in Bukavu are already out of fuel, and the scarcity itself forces up prices.<\/p>\n
\"Getting fuel is becoming a real hassle,\" said Jeremie Cito, a motorbike taxi driver. As a result, he now had to charge 1,000 francs for a short run compared to 500 before, he added.<\/p>\n
The situation is worsened by the fact that the province relies entirely on imports, said Paulin Bishakabalya, economics analyst with the Congo Federation of Businesses (FEC).<\/p>\n
Rice, wheat, corn and oil could all be produced locally, he pointed out.<\/p>\n
Eninga Abwe, who heads Bukavu's external trade office, said inspectors were being sent out to check markets for price-gouging.<\/p>\n
Russian's invasion of Ukraine has dealt a blow to grain exports from both countries, which are major producers of wheat and other cereals.<\/p>\n
Bishakabalya said the fog of uncertainty shrouding the world grain market was prompting some operators to hold back stock, and \"that is pushing prices up too\".<\/p>\n
\"The government has to act urgently,\" he said, calling for measures to spur production at home.<\/p>\n
The DRC boasts massive mineral resource and millions of hectares (acres) of potential farmland.<\/p>\n
But turning that land into productive agriculture requires capital to fix the country's decrepit transport system and political will to address administrative and other bottlenecks.<\/p>\n
According to the World Bank more than 70 percent of the DRC's 90 million people live below the poverty threshold -- less than $1.90 a day.<\/p>\n
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday that the Ukraine crisis meant the world had to act to prevent a \"hurricane of hunger and a meltdown of the global food system.\"<\/p>\n
Eighteen African and less-developed countries import at least 50 percent of their wheat from either Ukraine or Russia, he said -- and among them was the DRC.<\/p>\n
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Ukraine invasion sparks fears of hunger in eastern DR Congo - The East African<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By AFP Rising prices for food, sent soaring by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, are stoking fears of hunger and turmoil in a troubled corner of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In this vast, poor and fragile country in the heart of Africa, three-quarters of households live below the poverty threshold. Continue reading