By JANVIER BARHAHIGA
As farmers in the Kabare territory prepare for the next agricultural season, several say they are struggling to obtain the seeds they need. The shortage comes as the first rains expected to mark the start of the September planting season approach in parts of South Kivu.
For farmers, the challenge is no longer limited to declining soil fertility or land degradation. Access to quality seeds adapted to increasingly unpredictable weather is becoming another critical factor shaping their ability to produce food.
Herman Mutabataba of AgriForce South Kivu says farmers need support to access available seeds and should avoid planting immediately after the first rainfall.
“We need to help farmers access the available seeds and avoid planting with the very first rain,” Mutabataba says.
The recommendation reflects growing concerns over increasingly irregular rainfall patterns. When rains begin and then stop for several days or weeks, farmers risk losing seeds that have already been planted and may be forced to sow again, increasing production costs for already vulnerable households.
A seed bank for a changing climate
AgriForce South Kivu is calling for the creation of local seed banks that could preserve and make available varieties suited to different agroecological conditions.
The organization also advocates for a humanitarian and agricultural database of climate-adapted seeds.
Such a system could document the varieties available in different territories, their characteristics, their level of adaptation to local conditions and recommended planting periods.
For farmers, access to seeds would then no longer depend solely on what happens to be available in local markets.
War has turned seeds into food
The shortage is also linked to the prolonged conflict affecting parts of eastern DR Congo.
Since fighting intensified in several areas in 2025, displacement has disrupted local farming systems. Families forced to flee their villages have abandoned fields, agricultural tools and seed stocks.
Some households that managed to preserve seeds have subsequently consumed them because of worsening economic hardship and lack of food.
The result is a difficult cycle:
conflict → displacement → loss of productive assets → consumption of seed reserves → shortage of seeds upon return → difficulty restarting farming → greater dependence on humanitarian assistance.
For families returning to their villages, finding a field does not necessarily mean they can immediately resume farming. They also need seeds, tools, access to water, markets and sufficient security to cultivate their land.
Beyond distributing seeds
The situation in Kabare illustrates why agricultural recovery in conflict-affected areas requires more than emergency food assistance.
Replacing consumed or destroyed seed stocks could become an important component of humanitarian response and longer-term agricultural recovery.
But seed distribution alone is unlikely to address the problem.
Farmers also need technical support on when to plant, which varieties to use, soil conservation, water management and seed storage.
This is particularly important as climate variability makes traditional agricultural calendars increasingly unreliable.
A local test of global climate commitments
The issue is directly connected to discussions at the 17th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17), taking place in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from Aug. 17 to 28, 2026.
The conference is focusing on land restoration, drought resilience, sustainable agriculture, soil health and the mobilisation of investment for vulnerable communities.
For South Kivu, however, those global discussions have a very practical meaning.
A farmer cannot restore degraded land or adapt to climate change without the basic resources needed to cultivate it.
As the September planting season approaches, Kabare therefore offers a simple measure of resilience: will farmers have the right seeds, at the right time, for the changing climate?
In rural South Kivu, climate resilience may begin far from the conference rooms of Ulaanbaatar — with a seed, a piece of land and the ability to plant again.
