Women planting seeds in agriculture classes in Kongolo, Eastern…

Women planting seeds in agriculture classes in Kongolo, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

I've been finding out some factual background on the Congo, and then putting this into the context of the global food crisis and what SOS Children is doing to help this:

Most of the Democratic Republic of Congo (around 60% of its total area) is composed of the vast Congo river basin, which is covered with rainforests and is surrounded by plateaus and mountains. The country's highest mountain range is found on the border with Tanzania, Burundi, and Rwanda; it includes the country's highest peak, Mount Stanley, at around 5,120m. The Shaba or Katanga Mountains south-east of the Congo basin reach heights of up to 1,500m and are rich in mineral resources, such as copper and uranium. The country's water resources are vast and the Congo river basin is the world's second largest river system after the Amazon basin.

The Ubangi is the largest tributary of the Congo river in the north; its source is in the north-western mountains. The mountain ranges in the south-west are referred to collectively as the Bié Plateau. The river Kasai, the most important tributary of the Congo in the south, has its source there. Thick vegetation covers the valleys of these rivers.

Apart from the higher regions of the country, the climate is tropical, i.e. hot and humid. The average annual temperature in the lowlands of the Congo Basin is around 27°C, but temperatures are even higher during the hottest months (from February to April). The average temperature is about 19°C at altitudes over 1,500m. Rain falls throughout the year.

Vegetation, especially in the rainforest, is abundant and varied. Native plants include rubber plants, oil palms, coffee, and cotton. The most common fruits are bananas and coconuts. A large variety of trees are found including teak, ebony, African cedar and mahogany.

But in this setting of natural resources the skyrocketing prices for basic food and energy are, in many communities are affecting families in Africa (and Asia, and Latin America), forcing parents to make difficult decisions about the basic needs of their children.

For many of the 800 million people already struggling to meet the most basic of needs, rising food prices have created an unbearable additional strain. Families with low and fixed incomes are particularly hard hit by the food crisis. It is for these people, who are most sensitive to fluctuations in basic food prices, that basic goods such as rice, corn or grains are becoming unaffordable. The rising food prices have created social unrest in many parts of the developing world.

In our work with families, we see that children become increasingly vulnerable when their parents are faced with serious socio-economic pressures. For this reason, a large part of SOS Children's Villages' work with families focuses on supporting them to find sustainable ways to meet their children's development needs.

The families SOS support are affected by the crisis and are diverting money from their children's education and healthcare to be able to buy food. Already, children are being taken out of school.

A combination of factors is responsible for the mounting food and energy prices. Recent developments in alternative fuel production have had great impacts on food prices. As oil sources are becoming scarcer and the oil price is continuing to rise after doubling in the past year, such alternative sources have become more appealing. Since bio fuel like ethanol is produced from corn, more land is being devoted to its cultivation for this purpose, pushing back food production and leading to an upwards push of prices. Adding to the problem, the price of agricultural inputs such as oil-based fertilisers has risen sharply, in some places by up to 70 percent.

In addition to higher production cost, climate changes (lack of rain fall, droughts and floods) also have effects on the food prices as bad climatic conditions have negative impacts on harvests.

In the individual countries, SOS Children's Villages is working toward tailored solutions to a problem. This is likely to continue to occupy us on the middle to long term.