Peace yet to turn to food security

Four years after the end of Angola's long-running civil war, the mineral-rich southern African country is still battling to achieve food security. According to a national crop assessment published this week, more than 800,000 people in a population of 16 million will require food aid until the next harvest in May 2007. The survey, a joint assessment by the UN's Word Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), estimated that as a result of poor rains, total cereal production for 2005/06 would be 742,000 tonnes, a 15 percent drop compared to the 912,000 tonnes harvested in the 2004/05 season. Although the area of land under cultivation has increased since the end of the war in 2002, the legacy of landmines and lack of roads and services has slowed the pace of rehabilitation. "Angola has not yet recovered from the many effects of the civil war. Most of the country remains inaccessible to everyone, including aid agencies that are willing to help redevelop the ravaged areas. Potentially productive farmland remains under landmines and the demining programme is moving slowly in many provinces," said WFP spokesperson Patricia Lucas. "The transport and communications infrastructure is very bad," noted FAO country representative Annatolio Ndongmba. "This hampers the movement of supplies to farmers. In the same way, it severely limits the movement of farm produce to the markets. The farmers are unemployed and too poor to afford implements and inputs, which are also hard to find in most rural areas." The joint assessment noted that, for example, although potatoes grew well in the central highlands region, it was cheaper to import from Brazil than truck them the 600km to the capital, Luanda. "Progress in restoring infrastructure and services is tortuously slow. The agricultural sector in Angola is predominantly subsistence: soil conditions are poor and use of modern inputs is low, resulting in very low productivity," the report said. This season's poor rains hit those already vulnerable the hardest: former refugees and IDPs who resettled in the past year or two, female-headed households, and the sick and elderly. WFP is struggling to assist more than 700,000 Angolans - mostly young children and returning refugees - but "donor support for the agency's relief programme has diminished alarmingly since last year", the organisation said in a statement this week. "The situation has deteriorated to the extent that we will not be able to distribute food from next month, and will have to close down our operation entirely in September unless new contributions are received very soon," the head of WFP's operations, Sonsoles Ruedas, was quoted as saying. WFP needs at least US$12.6 million to distribute 7,700 tons of food aid until the end of the year, and $90 million for a three-year programme. WFP plans to assist more than 700,000 children in primary schools, pregnant and nursing women, and those living with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and pellagra. It also wants to support refugees expected to return from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia. The government has pledged $1.3 million towards WFP's school-feeding scheme this year, with the possibility of increasing the donation in 2007 and 2008. Angola's civil war lasted for 27-years, but the oil-rich country has now one of the world's fastest growing economies. Donors have faulted Luanda in the past for not spending enough on humanitarian programmes. "I cannot say how much has been invested, but government is now getting more involved in food security programmes," said Ndongmba.