Agriculture and food in Central African Republic

Agriculture in Central African Republic

The Central African Republic (CAR) is a low-income, landlocked, resource-rich, and sparsely settled nation of 4.83 million people that occupies an area of 622,984 square kilometres. The Central African Republic occupies an immense rolling plateau that forms, along a crest that trends southwest to northeast, the major drainage divide between the Lake Chad and Congo River basins. The country is well supplied with waterways. Tributaries of the Chari River occupy the northern third of the country’s territory. The remaining two-thirds of the terrain drains southward into the Ubangi River, which forms the Central African Republic’s southern border with Congo (Kinshasa).

A moist savanna climate prevails in the north and an equatorial forest zone in the south. During the rainy season (from March to October or November) heavy rainstorms occur almost daily, and early morning fog is typical. The dry season—brought by the north-eastern trade winds, called the harmattan—generally begins in October and ends in February or March. The air is dry, and temperatures range between (18 and 40 °C).

Agriculture is the largest sector and the basis of the Central African economy, contributing in 2020, almost 34 % in the gross domestic product and occupying nearly four-fifths of the workforce. The majority of CAR’s population is rural, dependent largely on farming or livestock production (primarily transhumance pastoralism cantered migration of cattle for pastures and water). Two-thirds of the population is estimated to live below the poverty line. Men clear the fields, while cultivation is largely the responsibility of women, who grow cassava (manioc), corn (maize), millet, sorghum, rice, squashes, and peanuts (groundnuts) for their families’ consumption. Cash crops such as cotton and coffee, introduced by French plantation owners, are produced largely on small landholdings. The country is mostly self-sufficient in basic foodstuffs. The growing of vegetables for export has been supported by the government. Although Central Africans have for some time cultivated sugarcane and oil palms on a small scale, the country has lately undertaken efforts to grow both crops on large, mechanized plantations.

Livestock in Central Africa Republic

The livestock population includes cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and poultry, most of which are kept for domestic consumption. Pond-raised tilapia and river fish also contribute substantial amounts of protein to the diet. The tsetse fly reduces the area in which stock can be raised, but development programs to improve herds and herd migrations from Chad and Sudan continue to increase the number of domestic animals in the country.

Situated 45 km north of Central African Republic's capital, Bangui, the Central African livestock market is the most important in the country and region. Cattle arriving here comes from as far as neighbouring countries such as Chad and Sudan, either via traditional routes or by road in trucks. Tropical rainforest covers a significant part of the Central African Republic, mainly in the southwest, and timber exports are a vital source of foreign exchange. Heavy reliance on international commodities markets, however, has rendered the country’s economy extremely vulnerable to price fluctuations.