The Guardian reports on a potential food crisis in the Central African Republic:
Farmers in the Central African Republic need aid urgently in order to avert a potential food crisis.
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Two years after Séléka rebels ousted the president of the Central African Republic and plunged the country into chaos, farmers urgently need seeds and tools to plant crops and avert food shortages. Failure to supply them could increase tension between communities, delay the return of displaced people, and ratchet up the costs of the humanitarian response, the UN has said.
Around 1.5 million people do not have enough to eat in the country, where religious violence has killed thousands since the mainly Muslim Séléka rebels deposed President François Bozizé on 24 March 2013.
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The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation warned that the number of hungry people was likely to rise if immediate support were not provided to farmers, many of whom lost their seeds and tools to armed looters.
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Farmers and their families were in an “extremely fragile” situation, with seeds urgently needed before the start of the rainy season at the end of April or beginning of May.
“In Bangui, they want vegetable seeds, they want maize seeds, and it is essential for them,” Scaglia said, adding that without seeds, the lean season – when households are between harvests – could stretch until November.
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