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Viewing cable 06KINSHASA653, OFDA FOOD SECURITY PROGRAM IN SHABUNDA AND

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06KINSHASA653 2006-04-27 07:58 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Kinshasa
VZCZCXRO6175
RR RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR
DE RUEHKI #0653/01 1170758
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 270758Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3757
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KINSHASA 000653 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AIDAC 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AID/W FOR DCHA/OFDA- MMARX, CGOTTCHALK, MSHIRLEY 
AID/W FOR DCHA/FFP- TANDERSON, NCOX, TMCRAE 
AID/W FOR DCHA/OTI- RJENKINS, KHUBER 
AID/W FOR AFR- KO'DONNELL, JBORNS 
NAIROBI FOR USAID/OFDA/ARO- JMYER, ADWYER 
NAIROBI FOR USAID/FFP- DSUTHER, ADEPREZ 
ROME FOR USUN FODAG- RNEWBERG 
GENEVA FOR NYKLOH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID EAGR PREF CG
SUBJECT: OFDA FOOD SECURITY PROGRAM IN SHABUNDA AND 
MWENGA, SOUTH KIVU 
 
REF: KINSHASA 452 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
1. (U) Over 100,000 Internally Displaced People (IDPs) and 
returnees in Shabunda and Mwenga have been receiving 
USAID/OFDA food security assistance since 2003. The 
program has helped returnees in the southern parts of 
these territories reestablish their agricultural 
activities. The program has had limited impact on 
household food production, especially in the northern 
parts of the territories, however, due to frequent 
population displacements. Malnutrition remains high in 
both territories. Cassava mosaic disease and a new banana 
disease are quickly spreading throughout the territories 
and might, if not urgently addressed, jeopardize food 
security in the area. Future food security assistance 
programs in the area should thus include distributions of 
resistant cassava varieties. END SUMMARY 
 
---------- 
Background 
---------- 
 
2. (U) This is the second of two communications reporting 
observations made by USAID/OFDA Rep Victor Bushamuka 
during a March 22 - 29 visit to South Kivu. One of the 
objectives of the visit was to assess the USAID/OFDA- 
funded food security program implemented by Food for the 
Hungry International (FHI). OFDA Rep visited program 
beneficiaries and met with local authorities, humanitarian 
actors, recently displaced people, and local residents in 
Shabunda and Mwenga territories. 
 
3. (U) Residents of Mwenga and Shabunda territories, 
situated respectively at 60 miles southwest and 130 miles 
west of Bukavu in South Kivu province, have consistently 
been displaced since 1998, some more than once a year, due 
to insecurity caused by armed groups including Mai Mai, 
FDLR, and FARDC (reftel). While there were ongoing pockets 
of insecurity in some areas, most of Shabunda and Mwenga 
territories were observed to be relatively calm over the 
past year and most displaced residents have returned. 
However, security has greatly deteriorated in the northern 
parts of the territories. This insecurity is caused by 
retreating FDLR and Mai Mai elements fleeing MONUC/FARDC 
forces in Bunyakiri and Kalonge in the territory of 
Kalehe. As a result, many villages in  northern Shabunda 
and Mwenga are reported to be abandoned. Although the 
number of these new IDPs has not yet been determined, 
humanitarian actors in the areas believe it to be over 
30,000. 
 
------------ 
Malnutrition 
------------ 
 
4. (U) Although reliable statistics on malnutrition in the 
Shabunda and Mwenga territories do not exist, Doctors 
Without Borders - Holland (MSF-H) has estimated the rates 
in Shabunda health zone (HZ) for children under 5 years at 
more than 15% for global acute malnutrition and around 5% 
for severe acute cases. The senior physician of Kamituga 
hospital believes the rates in Mwenga territory to be even 
higher. 
 
5. (U) Making the situation worse, malnutrition, which was 
virtually unknown in these territories before the war, is 
associated with extreme poverty. Many mothers of 
malnourished children are ashamed of their situation and 
therefore reluctant to seek medical help, a situation 
humanitarians in the area have confirmed. Many residents 
of Mwenga and Shabunda, however, said to OFDA Rep that 
public perceptions are gradually changing as they see 
children in villages dying from malnutrition. As a result, 
willingness to bring children in for treatment is 
increasing and it is now not uncommon in the territories 
for mothers to travel as far as 70 miles to seek 
 
KINSHASA 00000653  002 OF 003 
 
 
assistance for their malnourished children. 
 
6. (U) Both Shabunda and Mwenga have a feeding therapeutic 
nutritional center (FTNC) at the general reference 
hospital. The FTNC in Shabunda is supported by MSF-H while 
that of Mwenga, which is in Kamituga town, receives 
support from CARITAS. The FTNC in Shabunda registers on 
average 50 new cases every month and that of Kamituga 
receives 20 to 25 new malnutrition cases per month. Due to 
their limited capacity, both FTNCs said that they 
periodically have to turn away moderate cases and accept 
only the most severe cases. 
 
------------------------------ 
FHI's Food Security Activities 
------------------------------ 
 
7. (U) FHI's food security activities in Shabunda and 
Mwenga territories target IDPs, returnees, households with 
malnourished children, and female victims of rape. The 
program started in 2003 and has been assisting over 50,000 
beneficiaries yearly per territory. FHI distributes basic 
agricultural inputs including seeds and tools, and 
provides basic training in vegetable crop production to 
families of children admitted to the therapeutic feeding 
centers. 
 
8. (U) Beneficiaries of the program received seeds through 
either direct distributions or seed fairs. Direct 
distributions were conducted in areas with limited seeds 
available that have known multiple displacements. Seed 
fairs, on the other hand, were conducted in areas that had 
previously benefited from the program and have started 
producing their own seeds, but still have returnees or 
IDPs not covered by previous distributions. FHI favors 
seed fairs as they appear to stimulate the local economy 
as new beneficiaries purchase seeds from local producers. 
 
9. (U) FHI initiated seed multiplication and fish 
production programs with community-based organizations 
(CBO). These programs are designed to ensure that seeds 
and fingerlings are available after the end of the 
program. In these programs, seeds, tools, and fish are 
provided to CBOs after they have received training in seed 
multiplication procedures and fish production management. 
In 2005, FHI provided assistance to 20 CBOs in seed 
multiplication and to 4 CBOs in fish production per 
territory. 
 
10. (U) With the promotion both of fish farming and the 
planting of high-protein crops (including soybeans, 
peanuts and beans), FHI hopes to contribute to the 
reduction of malnutrition in the area. FHI also 
distributes a breeding pair of guinea pigs to families 
with malnourished children after they have been discharged 
from the FTNC to start small animal husbandry programs at 
home. It is expected that guinea pigs will constitute a 
valuable source of animal protein to the family. 
 
--------------------------------- 
Program Implementation Challenges 
--------------------------------- 
 
11. (U) Bean seeds distributed by FHI failed to grow in 
some areas of the territories, frustrating beneficiaries 
who felt that they wasted their energy to prepare the 
fields. However, other areas visited by OFDA Rep that also 
received the same seeds had flourishing bean fields. This 
raises the question of variety adaptation in this vast 
program area. 
 
12. (U) The program also experienced a very low planting 
rate of seeds as the beneficiaries ate most seeds 
distributed. In some areas, many households planted only 2 
kg of peanuts out of 10 kg of seeds received and 1 kg of 
beans out of 5 kg of seeds received. This was because 
seeds were distributed without seed protection food 
packages at a time when beneficiaries had little to eat. 
According to FHI, WFP was reluctant to provide seed 
protection packages due to the high transport cost 
 
KINSHASA 00000653  003 OF 003 
 
 
involved. Shabunda and Mwenga are both accessible only by 
plane and have limited capacity airstrips. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
New Challenges and Household Food Stocks 
---------------------------------------- 
 
13. (U) Cassava tubers are, by far, the most important 
food for the majority of rural households and returnees in 
DRC. In this regard, cassava production is the first 
activity most returnees of Mwenga and Shabunda reestablish 
upon their arriving back in their villages. Unfortunately, 
many returning households complain of a widespread 
infestation of cassava crops by the cassava mosaic 
disease. Because of the disease, many households have 
abandoned their fields. The abandoned cassava fields 
visited by OFDA Rep were planted over six months ego, but 
had only a few standing plants with no leaves left. Under 
such conditions, no production can be expected from these 
fields. The situation worries most of the villagers who 
requested emergency assistance from OFDA in increasing 
their access to disease-resistant cassava varieties. 
 
14. (U) Banana, another important crop in the diet of the 
population of Mwenga and Shabunda, is also attacked by a 
disease not yet scientifically identified. FHI's staff in 
the field said that the problem has spread throughout 
program areas. According to recent returnees, the disease 
kills infected plants within a month after symptoms 
appear. They indicated that the disease was not present in 
the area when they first fled in 1998, but dead and sick 
plants were observed in villages when people began 
returning in 2003. Although people are concerned about the 
problem, the banana disease is not considered by most 
households as serious a threat to their food security as 
cassava mosaic virus. 
 
15. (U) March is normally the end of the major crop 
harvesting period in the area and the time when household 
food stocks are the highest. However, only a few 
households visited by the OFDA Rep had significant stocks 
of food and seeds. Many attributed the lack of food stocks 
to looting of their crops during one of their last 
displacements. Others simply did not plant in the previous 
agricultural season because of insecurity in the fields or 
lack of seeds. 
 
-------------------------------- 
Observations and Recommendations 
-------------------------------- 
 
16. (U) Although FHI has contributed to the improvement of 
food security of returnees in southern Shabunda and Mwenga 
territories through the USAID/OFDA-funded program, the 
work in northern parts of the territories is far from 
complete. Many households continue to be displaced and to 
abandon their agricultural fields. 
 
17. (U) OFDA Rep suggested to the technical staff of FHI 
that area-specific agro-ecological conditions within the 
territory be carefully considered when selecting seeds for 
distribution. To reduce seed consumption when lacking seed 
protection packages, OFDA Rep recommended distributing the 
quantity of seeds based on the size of the field pre- 
prepared by households. This would require that 
agricultural tool distribution occur long before that of 
seed distribution to allow sufficient time for field 
preparation. 
 
18. (U) Future food security assistance projects in 
Shabunda and Mwenga need to consider among program 
priorities the distribution of disease-resistant cassava 
varieties. This highlights the need for coordination with 
the USAID-funded program on the multiplication and 
distribution of mosaic resistant cassava varieties 
implemented by the South Eastern Consortium for 
International Development (SECID) in the DRC, which USAID 
will explore. 
DOUGHERTY