Bozize directs ministries to provide tools to farmers

Central African Republic (CAR) leader Francois Bozize has directed the ministers in charge of agriculture and livestock, Pierre Gbianza and Denis Kossibela, to provide farmers in war-affected areas with tools to enable them to resume farming. Bozize gave the directive in Bozoum, 384 km northwest of the capital, Bangui, when he presided over World Food Day celebrations on Thursday. Bozize, who took power in a coup on 15 March after a six-month rebellion, said farmers in the north had lost three quarters of their farming tools during the war. He added that the war had reduced the farmer's productivity in the northern provinces of Ouham, Ouham Pende, Nana Grebizi and Kemo, where most of the fighting took place. Due to the war, farmers, like the rest of the population, left their homes and farms, and did not produce much during the last farming season. The farmers were reported to have eaten their seeds during their stay away from home. In late September, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) began food distributions in schools in the four provinces, with the aim of reaching at least 100,000 school children for the current and next school year. "The aim of the intervention is to lighten parents’ burden during the period of food hardship that will probably go from January to June [2004]," David Bulman, the WFP representative, said on Wednesday in Bozoum. In a joint report in September, the WFP and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) indicated that the north was facing an acute cereal deficit. The two agencies estimated the deficit at 120,000 mt of cereals, representing 23 percent of the cereal production in the region. With this deficit, the agencies said, the people would consume mainly cassava, which is nutritionally poor, between January and June 2004. In a speech broadcast on state-owned Radio Centrafrique, Bozize said the farming sector would be modernised with farmers using tractors and draught animals. To launch the programme, he donated some ploughs during the celebrations at Bozoum. He also asked Gbianza to revive the country's Agricultural Chamber as well as rural banks to help farmers attain stable food security. Gbianza said that a World Bank-supported farming programme worth 50 billion francs CFA (US $92 million) launched in 1993 had been cancelled due to corruption and mismanagement. Speaking during the World Food Day event, the FAO representative, Samuel Nana-Sinkam, said the agency would, in coming weeks, distribute tools to farming cooperatives that were affected by the country's repeated crises in recent years. The drive would target at least 7,900 farmers and breeders across the country, Nana-Sinkam added.