00:07Ashil Nzundi is an urban farmer who grows vegetables on the outskirts of Kinshasa.
00:14Vegetables like pondu and gaingai are staple dishes in many Congolese homes.
00:19But in recent years, Nzundi's yields have been affected by extreme weather patterns.
00:28The weather conditions have really changed.
00:30In the past, we used to have very little rain in February, but nowadays it rains heavily,
00:36causing a lot of flooding.
00:38That has destroyed our crops.
00:40We can't do much about it, because it's all God's plan.
00:44The changing weather has disrupted what was once a very predictable agricultural cycle,
00:50which has made it harder for farmers to plan their harvest.
00:53This lack of certainty, as well as new weather extremes, is particularly challenging.
01:03During dry spells, the sun is so hot, and when it rains, it is very heavy.
01:09Recently, rainwater flooded this area and destroyed all my crops.
01:13I had to start from scratch.
01:15A new study by the Food and Agriculture Organization is warning that extreme weather conditions are
01:22posing a threat to traditional crops like sorghum, maize, millet and rice in Africa.
01:29Environmentalists here say it's not just crops that are disappearing, but animals as well.
01:40Once upon a time, we used to have hippos in the Ngaliema Bay, but we can't find any now.
01:46This shows that it's not only vegetation that's disappearing, but also animal species.
01:52The extreme weather conditions have worsened the situation for thousands of farmers in the
01:58east of the DRC, whose livelihoods have also been blighted by an ongoing armed conflict.
02:05Humanitarian organizations are supporting them with food aid, but are overwhelmed by the growing needs.
02:11On top of the conflict-related hunger and food insecurity, lost production that we have, we
02:17also have climatic effects, either too much rainfall, not enough rainfall, and you can
02:22imagine when they don't have the predictability of climate, and they're also moving the farming
02:28communities, this is really a double or a triple hit.
02:31As weather patterns continue to change, these farmers are rethinking how they can continue
02:37farming.
02:37Some have appealed to the government for climate-resilient seeds and fertilizers, but many have not yet
02:44received them.
02:46Unpredictable weather has affected the crop yields of many farmers in the DRC.
02:50In recent months, torrential rains coupled with the country's poor drainage system have
02:56caused serious flooding that has not only washed away their crops, but also their livelihoods.
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