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DRC hunger crisis: 30.3m people face acute food insecurity by June 2027, UN agencies warn – EnviroNews
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The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is facing a worsening hunger crisis, with a record 30.3 million people projected to experience crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse between January and June 2027, four United Nations agencies have warned.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organisation (WHO) said escalating armed conflict, mass displacement, rising food prices and disease outbreaks, particularly Ebola, were pushing millions of people deeper into hunger.
The warning is contained in the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, which projects a significant deterioration in food security across the country despite growing humanitarian needs.
According to the analysis, nearly 29 million people, representing almost a quarter of the DRC’s population, are already expected to face Crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above) between September and December 2026.
This includes approximately 3.6 million people facing Emergency conditions (IPC Phase 4), characterised by severe food consumption gaps, extremely high acute malnutrition and excess mortality risks.
The situation is expected to deteriorate further in the first half of 2027, when the number of people facing Emergency levels of hunger is projected to increase by nearly 600,000 to 4.2 million.
The total population facing Crisis or worse is also expected to rise from 26.5 million during January to June 2026 to 30.3 million over the corresponding period in 2027.
The agencies warned that humanitarian assistance was falling dangerously behind the growing needs, calling for urgent international financing, expanded food assistance and improved access to affected communities.
WFP Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response, Ross Smith, said armed conflict was forcing families from their homes, separating them from their farms and making food increasingly unaffordable.
“Conflict is driving families from their homes, cutting them off from their fields and putting food beyond their reach,” Smith said.
He described the Ebola outbreak as a crisis compounding an already deteriorating humanitarian situation, warning that food assistance was essential to addressing the wider emergency and preventing further deterioration.
He called for safe and sustained humanitarian access and additional resources to deliver food assistance at scale before more households slide into Emergency levels of hunger.
Eastern DRC bears the greatest burden
The eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri remain the epicentre of the worsening food insecurity, with more than 11 million people projected to face Crisis or worse conditions between January and June 2027.
The IPC analysis identified nine territories expected to experience Emergency levels of hunger.
They include Djugu in Ituri; Lubero, Masisi and Oïcha in North Kivu; and Fizi, Kalehe, Mwenga, Shabunda and Walungu in South Kivu.
These areas have experienced prolonged insecurity, armed violence and repeated population displacement, disrupting agricultural activities, trade and access to essential services.
According to the agencies, conflict and displacement are stripping households of their means of survival through the loss of productive assets, restricted access to farmland and disruption of local markets.
As incomes decline and purchasing power weakens, families are increasingly adopting harmful coping strategies that further undermine their ability to withstand subsequent economic and environmental shocks.
Insecurity, damaged infrastructure and logistical difficulties are also disrupting trade routes and keeping food prices high, particularly in areas already affected by prolonged humanitarian emergencies.
The IPC assessment further identifies international crises in the Middle East, the Red Sea and Ukraine as contributing to wider economic and supply-chain pressures affecting food availability and affordability.
Climate hazards, limited access to agricultural land and shortages of essential farming inputs are adding to the difficulties, reducing harvests and agricultural incomes.
FAO urges urgent agricultural support
The FAO warned that humanitarian food distribution alone would not provide a sustainable solution unless displaced and vulnerable farming households received the support needed to restore agricultural production.
Its Director of the Office of Emergencies and Resilience, Rein Paulsen, said farmers needed seeds, tools and other essential agricultural inputs before the next planting season begins in early 2027.
He warned that missing another agricultural season would deepen food shortages, increase dependence on humanitarian assistance and make the emergency response more expensive.
“Every agricultural season missed deepens hunger and increases dependence on humanitarian assistance,” Paulsen said.
He explained that providing agricultural support ahead of the planting season would enable farmers to harvest by mid-year, restore household incomes and contribute to feeding their communities during the lean season.
“Acting late means another missed harvest, more displacement and hunger and a longer, costlier emergency response,” he added.
The FAO’s position highlights the importance of combining emergency food assistance with longer-term interventions that restore agricultural livelihoods, strengthen local food production and improve household resilience.
Hunger crisis spreads beyond conflict hotspots
Although eastern DRC accounts for the highest concentration of urgent humanitarian needs, the food security crisis extends well beyond the provinces most affected by armed conflict.
Significant proportions of the population in Tanganyika, Maniema, Kasaï, Haut-Lomami, Lomami, Kwango and Haut-Uele are also projected to face Crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse.
The agencies attributed the deterioration in these areas to security shocks, restricted market access, declining household purchasing power and disruptions to farming activities.
The situation illustrates the widespread nature of the country’s food insecurity, with conflict-related disruptions interacting with economic pressures and weaknesses in agricultural production and distribution systems.
Ebola, malnutrition worsen humanitarian emergency
The growing hunger crisis is also being compounded by disease outbreaks and inadequate access to healthcare, safe drinking water and sanitation.
The agencies warned that Ebola, mpox, cholera and other public health emergencies were placing additional pressure on households already struggling to secure sufficient food.
Disease outbreaks disrupt farming and livelihoods, restrict population movement, increase household expenses and place additional demands on already fragile health systems.
The consequences are particularly severe for children under five, who face heightened risks of acute malnutrition and disease-related complications.
UNICEF Director of Emergency Operations, Lucia Elmi, said hunger and malnutrition among children were being driven by multiple overlapping factors, including displacement, disease outbreaks and inadequate access to essential services.
“For children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, hunger and malnutrition are not just driven by a lack of food,” Elmi said.
She explained that conflict and disease outbreaks, particularly Ebola, were increasing food insecurity risks, especially where women and children could not access healthcare, safe water and sanitation.
Elmi called for increased support to prevent food insecurity and malnutrition, sustain essential services and ensure children could safely access the healthcare and protection they need.
WHO Executive Director of the Health Emergencies Programme, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, similarly warned that the combination of hunger and infectious diseases was deepening the country’s humanitarian crisis.
“When families cannot access enough nutritious food, safe water or essential health services, they become increasingly vulnerable to disease and death,” he said.
He stressed that reaching affected populations with life-saving health, nutrition and water services was an urgent priority, particularly as major Ebola and cholera outbreaks continued to affect eastern DRC.
UN agencies call for urgent international intervention
In response to the worsening situation, FAO, WFP, UNICEF and WHO have called for urgent, coordinated financing and diplomatic action to prevent further deterioration in food security and nutrition.
Their recommendations include scaling up emergency food assistance, protecting and restoring agricultural livelihoods, preventing and treating acute malnutrition, and sustaining essential healthcare, nutrition, safe water and sanitation services.
The agencies also called on all parties to the conflict to protect civilians, particularly children, as well as essential public services and infrastructure.
They urged parties to facilitate safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access to communities in need, warning that insecurity and logistical restrictions could further undermine relief operations.
Donors were also urged to provide timely and sustained funding to reach the worst-affected populations, particularly ahead of critical agricultural planting seasons in early 2027.
The agencies stressed that immediate intervention was necessary not only to address current hunger but also to prevent further displacement, malnutrition and loss of livelihoods.
With 30.3 million people projected to face acute food insecurity or worse in the first half of 2027, the agencies warned that the scale of the crisis requires a response that combines emergency relief, agricultural recovery, disease prevention and sustained investment in essential services.
Without urgent action, millions of vulnerable households could face increasingly severe food shortages, while children and displaced communities remain particularly exposed to the devastating consequences of hunger, malnutrition and disease.
