UN warns CAR facing ‘dire’ food crisis

Central African Republic (CAR) faces a “dire” food crisis with over half the population suffering hunger following three years of conflict, two UN agencies warned Tuesday.
Overall crop production in 2015 remained 54 percent below average levels prior to a March 2013 coup which plunged the impoverished former French colony into chaos, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP) said in a report.
Production was up 10 percent on 2014 but this was largely due to an increase in the cassava crop. Grain harvests were 70 percent down on pre-crisis levels.
“The situation is dire. Half of the population faces hunger,” said Bienvenu Djossa, WFP Country Director in CAR.
The conflict in CAR has led to one million people being displaced from their homes in a country of less than five million where 75 percent depend on agriculture for their living.
The conflict has reduced the number of cattle in the country by almost a half, and the number of of goats and sheep by more than half, the agencies said.
Source: Arab News