• DRC, Japan sign $2.6M food aid deal under KR2025 program
• Thai rice assistance targets 28M facing acute food insecurity
• Crisis worsened by conflict, displacement, inflation, and epidemics

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) signed an agreement with Japan on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, for the implementation of the KR2025 Food Assistance Program.

The agreement provides $2.6 million USD in food aid, which will be supplied in kind as Thai rice. The assistance is intended to help the DRC combat food insecurity and improve living conditions for its population, especially the most vulnerable.

The aid comes as the DRC faces a severe humanitarian crisis, with 28 million people experiencing acute food insecurity in 2025. Nearly 3.9 million of those are at emergency levels. The crisis is particularly severe in the eastern provinces of Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu, which have been devastated by conflict and mass displacement, leaving 7.8 million people internally displaced. High inflation, disrupted markets, and epidemics, including Mpox, cholera, measles, and malaria, are compounding the situation.

While peace talks have been held to secure a ceasefire, they have yet to end the violence. The World Food Programme (WFP) is therefore prioritizing sustainable solutions to strengthen community resilience.

In 2024, the WFP supported 70,000 smallholder farmers in Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, and Tanganyika through training in post-harvest loss management, literacy, business skills, and collective marketing. This brought the total number of beneficiaries across the country to 131,000.

Ingrid Haffiny