Assessment Of Household Food Consumption Trends And Demand In The Democratic Republic Of Congo

Abstract

All member countries of the United Nations are committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 2 “zero hunger”. Compared to other regions, Africa has seen little progress regarding the reduction of the prevalence of malnutrition. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), there are millions of people suffering from extreme food insecurity and malnutrition. In recent years, DRC has experienced substantial economic growth however is not accompanied by nutrition improvement. Economic growth is usually expected to enhance nutritional status; however, this has not been the case in DRC. DRC has huge potential, but unable to feed its population. The government of DRC and its partners usually focus on peace, stability and food aids to resolve the issue of food insecurity and malnutrition. Very little attention is directed towards improving the quality of the households’ food consumed and nutritional diversity. Moreover, DRC has no concrete agenda to improve food security and nutrition. Therefore, knowledge on the vulnerability of households regarding food insecurity, diet consumption, nutrient intake and food demand is key in the prioritisation of interventions. Thus, this study analysed the food budget share and the food composition and mapped the nutrient deficiencies as well as their trends between 2005 and 2012 for urban and rural areas for 26 provinces of DRC. Moreover, to generate the evidence required to design and implement efficient food policies, the study estimated the demand elasticities for food and the Engels curves using the QUAIDS model and the Quadratic Engel curves respectively for urban and rural areas. This study utilized two rounds of National Household Surveys collected in 2005 and 2012. Results of the study suggest that households spend 75% of their budget on food, and about 80 per cent of that budget is spent on cereals, root and tubers as well as meat and fish. The overall nutrient intake analysis suggests hidden hunger all over the country, with a negative nutrient intake trend. The estimated income elasticities suggested that most of the food groups were normal goods. In the urban areas, the own-price elasticities suggested that vegetables, milk, meat and fish, main staples and oil were price elastic while in the rural areas, v pulses, vegetables, milk and oil were price elastic, whereas the main staples group were inelastic. The results of the cross-price elasticities in both urban and rural areas showed that all the food groups are complements to the main staples and substitutes to meat and fish. Therefore, the study recommends a nutrition-sensitive approach, multi-stakeholder partnerships and improvement of the communication within and between provinces. Finally, further study on the households’ food consumption and demand should be done on a more disaggregated level.