Interview with Mai Moussa Abari, head of FAO

The insecurity experienced in parts of the Central African Republic (CAR) for more than a year has become a national and international concern. While the CAR government is trying to find a lasting solution to restore peace and order in the troubled northwest region, the international community is also taking action to assist people in distress. Although donors' responses to appeals by United Nations agencies and non-governmental organisations in the country have been slow, some funds have reached aid agencies in CAR, one of which is the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). On 12 July, IRIN spoke to Mai Moussa Abari, the head of FAO, about the agency's activities in the country. Here are excerpts of the interview: QUESTION: Has the FAO received funding from the international community? ANSWER: We made two requests for funding from the [UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’] Central Emergency Research Fund [CERF]. We have received a response concerning the first project we set up and it was announced that US $193,200 had been allocated and this amount is on its way. The money will be used to buy and distribute cassava cuttings and agricultural tools to people in the north and northwest; mainly in Paoua, Markounda and Kabo, the towns most affected by the armed conflict. The people there are in a precarious situation. We deemed it very urgent to assist them by providing cassava cuttings to help improve their food situation as they are obliged to eat wild roots; we thought it was better to re-start agriculture in this region. This project, funded by the CERF, will help people in the troubled zones start new agricultural production to restore food security in their area. We hope it will relieve vulnerable populations in the region. Q: Why have you confined the project to cassava production alone? A: We had planned [to distribute] seeds such as maize, millet and groundnuts. We sent a request to CERF at the beginning of May but, for various reasons, only now have we received an official response. Because of [the country's] agricultural planting season, the choice of cassava production now is safer because we can grow cassava during the rainy season despite the delay. It is this technical aspect that motivated our choice as cassava is the basic foodstuff. I think our choice meets the needs and requirements of the population. As an agriculturally specialised agency, the FAO is obliged to operate according to the agricultural calendar. The slight discrepancy we have registered led us to prioritise the production of cassava. Growing cassava will alleviate the population's suffering due to lack of food. Q: Is it safe to re-start agriculture in the troubled regions while insecurity persists? A: Of course, there is residual insecurity in the north and the northwest zones but people are still living there. We understand that the insecurity in the area is not absolute. [Moreover], we cannot use the prevailing insecurity in the region as a pretext to avoid carrying out activities there. As long as people face food insecurity it is another insecurity pattern that soon becomes part of their daily lives. They will be tempted to flee the area and this situation will deeply destabilise the zone. Our conviction is to help people still living in the affected regions by [providing] these cassava cuttings so they can stay and end the food insecurity. Q: Where are you getting the cassava cuttings from? A: These cassava cuttings have been introduced to the country for many years now by the International Institute for Tropical Agronomy - a research centre specialising in improving cassava production in Nigeria. Now, this type of cassava grown in the CAR by the PAPAAV project and the Ouakombo Agronomic Centre can be found in large quantities. Q: Is FAO planning to further develop agriculture in the country? A: Under the auspices of the Consolidated Appeal Process in 2006, another FAO project is now under way. We are mobilising seeds such as maize, rice, millet and cassava cuttings to be dispatched to six prefectures to relieve people affected by the unrest. This project is estimated at $390,000. We have additional requests from the CERF [that] I cannot talk about now because we are waiting for official communication. Our ambition as FAO is to restart agriculture in this country. With the stabilisation of the situation and the mobilisation of our partners, we certainly hope to achieve this objective. Q: Is it true that the CAR is eligible for another $2.5 million in aid from the international community, and will FAO be a beneficiary? A: CERF has two components: the under-funded projects and the rapid response. In the under-funded projects' component, we have received $193,200 even though the money is not yet available on the ground. We understand that in the rapid response component, $2.5 million has been allocated to the CAR; but we are still awaiting official confirmation to see if the FAO is eligible for this second component. The FAO had filed requests for an estimated $450,000 but for the moment, we have received $193,200. Q: Could you comment on the delays in the funding of UN agencies’ projects in CAR by the international community, and how do these delays affect FAO? A: With the establishment of CERF [in early 2006] we thought that responses to our appeals would be quick; but this has not happened and I think this is due to the fact that this is a new instrument. We sent our requests for funds in May but only in July have we officially been informed of the outcome. It is true that a delay is really detrimental to the FAO – more so than to any other UN agencies. We are a technical agency and we have natural and technical constraints as we operate according to the seasons. Some UN agencies may operate the whole year distributing food and non-food items - there is no problem as there is no time constraint. However, FAO cannot operate all year round like the other agencies as it depends on the agricultural calendar. This makes FAO emergencies very specific. I mean, if financial aid directed to FAO arrives in the country by mid-September, we cannot use it as we would be at the end of the planting season in the CAR. This is why we're appealing to our partners to be flexible regarding investment requests by the FAO. I spoke about the $193,200 officially announced for the CAR. The money is not available at the moment [by 12 July] and with all administrative arrangements to be fulfilled, I hope it will be here [in the CAR] by the end of the month; the agricultural schedule would have gone far enough and there would be no option but to grow cassava. I can say, once again, that the difference between the other UN agencies and the FAO is that these agencies enjoy a certain flexibility in operating at any time of the year while the FAO is restricted by the agricultural schedule. Q: How much money does FAO need to restart agriculture in the CAR? A: To restart agriculture to guarantee better production, the FAO requires tens of billions of CFA francs. Conflict has affected the whole country; infrastructure has been destroyed and people are deprived of basic means of production. People live in an extremely precarious situation in all regions of the CAR. However, for the time being, we are working with what we have. Unfortunately, the international community has turned a deaf ear to our appeals. We passionately wish to see the international community help this country. Without investment for rebuilding the CAR, the longer the country’s predicament remains precarious. The international community should look at the reasons for investing and assess what can be done to stabilise the CAR. We appeal to donor countries to back the FAO because we are in a country that shows promise. We think if the FAO receives investment from the international community, so many things will be done to help people get out of the precarious situation affecting them now. jb/js/mw