Seeds of Change: Improving agricultural practices for bountiful harvests
Published: Mar 20, 2025 Reading time: 2 minutes Share: Share an articleIn the conflict-torn DRC, pregnant and breastfeeding women are among the most vulnerable to malnutrition as displacement disrupts access to food. Our project in the Nyantende area provides vital support—from seeds and tools to agricultural knowledge—to families like Sifa's and Honorata's to grow food, improve nutrition, and build a more secure future.
In countries in conflict, such as the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), populations are more susceptible to malnutrition due to a lack of access to rich and varied diets. While torn apart by conflict, populations must flee, abandoning their property, fields, crops, livestock, and homes. As a result, the country's agricultural production stops, and displaced populations struggle with food insecurity. This situation can also be observed in the host community, with its growing population and the scarcity of necessities such as vegetables and other essential products.
We provided financial support to the local organisation JSD Grands Lacs (Jeunesse pour la Solidarité et le Développement Grands Lacs), which monitors food security in the Nyantende health zone. Over six months, JSD supported 40 households in Bukavu with improved garden-to-market production by distributing farming tools and market garden seeds such as amaranths, courgettes, cabbages, and onions.
We primarily focused on pregnant and breast-feeding women, as those amongst the most at-risk of malnutrition.
AVEC (Association villageoise d'Epargne et de Crédit) is a group of people who meet regularly to save together and take out small loans from these savings.
“I now produce a lot of vegetables, and traders come to buy them from my garden. I can only thank the leaders of JSD Grands Lacs and PIN for thinking of us,” she says.
This project is part of our larger goal to improve nutritional practices in DRC. In Nyantende, as the land has been degraded and eroded over decades, JSD Grands Lacs has initiated the restoration of gardens through improved agricultural practices. Community members became involved by setting up vegetable gardens, which their families look after daily.
