FAO distributes groundnuts, maize seeds in Central African Republic

The United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has completed one of its largest-ever seed distribution operations in the Central African Republic, (CAR), a UN news release said August 7.

The seed scheme was designed to tackle three issues: food insecurity, hunger and chronic poverty, which are problems across the CAR, according to the FAO.

The UN food agency distributed seeds to more than 12,500 farmers in Nana-Mambere prefecture in the west of the CAR, next to the border with Cameroon.

Each seed kit given to a farmer consisted of 4 kg of peanut seeds and 10 kg of corn seeds. The non-governmental organization Mercy Corps trained local communities in farming techniques so they can boost their yields and expand beyond subsistence farming.

Xinhua

EU to help "open up" Central African Republic's agricultural potential

The European Commission has announced a programme to support governance and the opening-up of the Central African Republic (CAR), potentially a major biofuels producer. EC commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, recently visited the CAR and signed two financing agreements: a €55 million one for institutional support and measures to open up the country, including the construction of a section of a major road, and the other €13.6 million for a programme to reduce multilateral and domestic arrears.

The CAR is a large landlocked country with a great untapped agricultural potential. It has one of the lowest population densities in the world (6.5 inhabitants/square kilometer). The CAR's 4 million inhabitants' average arable land availability is around 19 hectares per person, the highest ratio after Gabon and the DRCongo. The country currently uses less than 5% of its arable land. Agriculture forms the backbone of the CAR's economy, providing 55% of its GDP, and the sector employs around 70% of the country's population, which mainly lives in the countryside. Urbanisation in the CAR progresses very slowly, in contrast to other African countries. Despite the country's agricultural potential, its people are among the poorest of the world, with an estimated yearly income of only US$300 per person. Large-scale bioenergy production offers a possible way out.

One of the main obstacles to the country's development is its landlocked status, its lack of transport infrastructure and the high fuel import bills that drain its treasury. These factors result in a negative synergy that keeps the CAR closed off from the outside world and its people in poverty. Fuels is extremely expensive because it has to be shipped in over the Congo and Ubangi rivers, and shortages are frequent. Given these factors, the CAR is one of those countries where the creation of a decentralised biofuels industry makes absolute sense. Locally produced transport fuels would reduce energy import bills and make it possible to gradually start exporting agricultural products, not in the least biofuels and biomass. The sustainable biomass production potential of the CAR is high, and the country is one of those that contribute to making sub-Saharan Africa's long-term bioenergy potential so large.

The CAR currently depends on international aid to survive economically and on NGOs for services the state cannot afford to provide. Large-scale bioenergy production for exports could help end this situation. To make this possible, basic investments in agriculture but especially in transport infrastructures are urgently needed.

Even though it remains to be seen which type of crops would make the best mix for the CAR's biofuel future, there is the basic potential for a wide variety of sugar and starch-rich crops that can be used as feedstocks for liquid biofuels. Among them are sweet potato, soya bean, cassava, sorghum, sugar cane and various tree crops. If the food, fiber, fodder and fuel needs of the CAR's steadily growing but still very small population are met, the country still has a large resource base left for green energy production, which it can export.

There is of course a wide gap between purely theoretical projections and assessments relying on natural factors (land, climate, etc...) and the economic, concrete potential, which is determined by man-made factors : from the political stability and investment climate, the infrastructure, to the way its leaders manage their country.

Biopact