Agriculture
Aug 24th, 2008 by Brock Boddie UNDP CAR
Despite having some of the most fertile land in Africa, the agricultural sector in the Central African Republic (CAR) has languished severely. A combination of insecurity, a lack in security, trade routes, of infrastructure, tools and skills have conspired against a country otherwise blessed with natural resources.
The raw statistics show a country with enormous potential in the agricultural sector. With over 15 million hectares of arable land, one of the highest rainfalls per person in the world (37,000 cubic meters per person) and 74% of the population working in agriculture, CAR already would have many prerequisites for success.
Paradoxically, however, food security is precarious. In CAR, subsistence farming prevails. Only 4% of the arable land is cultivated each year and more than one in three children under the age of five are chronically malnourished — one in ten are acutely malnourished. In a worrisome trend, over the last three decades, population growth has outstripped the growth in agricultural production. Farmers have not been able to increase output due to a severe lack of skills and tools, which has made increasing yields very challenging.
Moreover, banditry and conflict in the north have had enormous impact on farming communities. Many families have fled their villages, leaving behind what few assets they have: seeds, tools and their harvests. Banditry and conflict has also made transporting and trading crops dangerous. It is for these reasons that food prices in CAR increased by almost 25% in early 2008; the price for cassava, a staple food, rose by more than 50%. These large increases have put tremendous pressure on Central Africans, particularly those living on less than $1 per day – the vast majority of the population.
In response to these issues, the government has identified several priorities to support agriculture and rural development, key among them are: training and supporting farmers; building the capacity to plan, research, support, train and communicate to better aid the agricultural sectors; and intensifying and diversifying agriculture on a region-specific basis.
For further information on Agriculture in CAR, please read:
