Impact of conflict of food production and security in the Central African Region 

Impact of conflict of food production and security in the Central African Region

Abstract

The thrust of this seminar paper is to interrogate the impact of conflict on food production and security in the Central African Region (comprising of Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Sao Tome and Principe, Central Africa Republic, Congo Brazzaville, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Burundi) between 1979 and 2020. The paper meticulously examines the geographical location of the region and its natural resources in line with the background and factors that necessitate conflicts in the region. With the aid of a qualitative method of analysis adopted in the paper, justifications were made as regards the pathetic effects of the various civil conflicts that occurred in countries of the region on not only crop production but also food security in general. The paper concludes that with the prolonged conflicts and insurgent attacks in the region, there was a vast decline in agricultural productivity in the region which resulted in food insecurity and to an extent a humanitarian crisis.

Introduction

Armed conflicts have posed a tremendous challenge to the political, economic and social development and growth of the Central African region of the African continent including the Central African Republic (CAR), where poverty rates one of the highest in Africa. The link between conflict and agricultural activity is particularly important, since agricultural activity comprised 30-40% of GDP between 2008 and 2018. Agriculture is the major source of economic livelihood for households in the country. About 80% of the population depends on crop production livestock rearing and fishing as a major livelihood source. It is equally an important source of the region’s foreign exchange amounting for about 42% of exports. About 2 million hectares of land in Central African Republic is arable and under permanent crops, while 3 million hectares is under permanent pasture with key food crops such as cassava, groundnuts, sorghum, maize, millet, sesame, plantains and major export crops are coffee, cotton, and tobacco.

Be it as it may, irrespective if the prevalence of civil conflicts and violent attacks in the Central African region have significantly affected agricultural production in the area thus causing displacement of household within countries and into neighbouring countries, abandonment of fields for crop production, inaccessibility of planting fields, closure of economic institutions like markets and many others. Again, the prevalence of insecurity in the countries of the region created disincentives for farmers to produce and sell their farm produce thus triggering inflation, anger and even starvation to an extent. Based on this background, the present study seeks to interrogate the impact of conflict on food production in Central African region from 1979 to 2020.

An understanding of the Central African Region

The region that is described today according to the United Nations comprises Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Cargo-Republic-Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe. Thus region covers the equator and contains the Congo Basin with the second largest rain forest in the world. Crude oil happens to be a leading export in the region. However, following the Rwanda genocide of 1994, thus region is still challenged with a lot of economic and political instability. These eleven countries are members of the Economic of Central Africa States (ECCAS), six of which- Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Republic of the long are also members of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEP/AC) and share a currency known as the Central African CFA France.

Background to conflicts in the central African Region

First, it should be printed out that the presence of natural resources is at the centre of majority of the conflicts that have destroyed most resource-rich countries in Africa. Thus nation is true if one insiders the nature and pattern of conflicts in countries such as Angola, DRC, Chad, Republic of Congo, CAR amongst others. The above denatured countries have witnessed some form of violent conflicts which could be linked to the prepuce of different kinds of natural resources. Despite the absence of any form of violent conflicts in other countries, such as Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon, the presence of resources has created a deep-seated disgruntlement from majority of the population as revenue from these resources hardly trickle down to the masses.

Resource-Related Conflicts in the Central African Region

A major cause of most natural resources-related conflicts in resource-rich countries in this region is the way in which their natural resources are being extracted, the distribution of reveals from exploitation, and the level of involvement of cold population in development decisions. Explaining the main reason of the conflicts related to natural resources in some of the countries of the region is the fact that warring parties in the face of conventional conflicts are always in dire need of money and as such are ready to take it wherever they can find it. It has been asserted that of all natural resources, oil has the highest risk of civil conflict consequent upon the large rents it offers at the shocks to which the government and the natural economy are exposed, while the gulf of Guinea and other counties in the Central African Region like Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Central African Republic (CAR) have been involved in conflicts on resources other than oil. According to D. Halleson, the natural resources-related conflicts in the Central Africa region could be grouped into separatist conflicts; inter-state conflicts and conflict political armed groups wanting to gain control of the country. Having noted this, the next section will look into some of the conflicts that have engulfed the region from independence.

Republic of Angola (The Angolan civil war 1975-2002)

Angola gained independence from Portugal in 1975 after thirteen years (13) guerilla act (1961-1975). It became involved in a civil war that lasted for almost four decade. The civil war pitched the popular nor. For the liberation of Angola (MPLA) led by Eduardo Dos Santos who took over power upon the death of Augostiaho Neto and became president of Angola, and the National Unen for the coral independence of Angola (UNVIA) led by Dr. Jonas Savimbi. The Angola civil war could be split into two phases with the first phase from 1975-1991 that resulted in the signing of the Bicese Accord on 31st may 1991 which called for a ceasefire, the formation of a newly unified national arm, the holding of Angola’s multi-party elections for a new president and national Assembly.

On the other hand, the second phase of the war lasted from 1992-2002 involving the ruling MPLA which emergedd victorious in the country’s first elections and UNITA that refused to recognize the results of the elections and instead resorted to violence. While the first phase was dominated with foreign intonations and a battleground for the cold war, the second phase saw the prominent role of natural resources – oil for the government. (MPLA) and demand for the UNITA rebel group. Thus war is usually referred to as “Angola’s Resource War”. While demands were primarily used to support UNITA war efforts revenues from oil were used by the govt. to fund its war efforts in fighting UNITA rebels.

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

The democratic Republic of Congo formerly Zaire, presents another, example of a country bedeviled by the availability of natural resources. The DRC is potentially one of the richest countries in Africa endowed with a wide range of natural resources from oil, minerals and timber. The fight for control of the enormous revenues flowing from the exploration of these resources has been at the centre of violent conflicts in the DRC. Unlike the conflicts in the Angola what was based on oil and to an extent demand in DRC, the conflict was largely fuelled by the vast availability of solid minerals like gold, cotton, diamonds and timber. Thus conflict has been referred to as the “Second Congolese War” and it began in 1998, a year after Laurent Kabila became president following the overthrow of President Robura Seseseko.

The Congolese civil war has been described as one of world’s deadliest war since the Second World War with an estimated 3.3 million deaths. Unlike the first civil war that broke out immediately after the independence and became a spillover of the cold war with the dominant presence of both western and soviet forces, the Second War has been dictated primarily by the interests of surrounding African states. This was a referred to as “Africa’s World War with each of these countries supporting one or more of the warring factions. The conflict was sustained by the desire of armed factions to control large reserves of gold, diamonds, copper, and other minerals. The rebel groups in the eastern region of DRC fighting the government were supported by Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, and anti-government UNITA rebels from Angola; while the government of the DRC was supported by Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Chad, and possibly also with Sudanese soldiers and Rwandan Hutu extremists.

Again, it should be pointed out that alongside the African countries in the Congolese conflict was the increasing presence or multi-national extractive industries that engaged in illegal exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is recorded that about thirty-three companies from Germany, Belgium, Malaysia, Tanzania, Russia, India, the UK, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Pakistan were involved in the importation of minerals from the DRC through Rwanda.

Central African Republic

The Central African Republic (CAR) has for more than ten years been trapped in recurrent armed conflict with a civil war between October 2002 and March 2003. These years of armed conflict has resulted in a total collapse of basic infrastructure, social services, and high insecurity. Though CAR is hugely endowed with a lot of mineral resources such as timber, diamond, Uranium, gold and ivory, the conflict in the country seem not to be directly connected to the presence or even control of these resources. This view is supported by the International Peace Information Service (IPIS) which in one of its study revealed that most the territories held by the rebels contain only few natural resources 19. The study also reveals that the only violence in the CAR that had a direct link to natural resources is from heavily armed illegal poachers interested in ivory.

Overall, it is important to note that the series of conflicts that occurred in the central African region had immerse and suffocating implications to the development and growth of the people living in the regions. A significant aspect of the effects of these conflict that is worthy of discuss in relation to the essence of this article is food crop production.

The Impact of Conflict on Food crop production in the central African Region

In the Central African Republic, it would be rightly said that the years of conflict and displacements disrupted agriculture and severely constrained people’s access to food as they struggle with the implications of multiple poor harvests, disrupted markets, and so a ring prices for many staple foods. A quarter of the population remains displaced, both internally and in neighboring countries, increasing pressure on host communities and their already limited resources. According to the assessment conducted by the food scarcity cluster- co led by food and agriculture organization indicate an alarming worsening of the food, see using situation. When compared with pre-crisis levels, cereal production is down by 70 percent, fisheries output by 40 percent, and cattle population has declined by 46 percent production of cotton and coffee went from 42% to 28% lower than pre-crisis levels.

According to the United Nation, the three years of conflict as well as the violent expressions in the CAR caused the country a great deal of loss especially in the area of agriculture. For instance, the country is overall crop production in 2015 remained 54% below the pre-crisis average, despite a 10% increase from 2014 mostly due to a rise in cassava production, according to the latest Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM), conducted by the UN Food Agriculture or Granulation (FAO) and the World Food Programme cereals harvests continued to decline in 2015, with production 70% lower than the pre-crisis overage. Overall crop production in 2015 amounted to 838, 671 tonnes, around one million less than the average before the crisis. The situation in the country during the period is really pathetic as half of the population face hunger.

According to Diana Oberoi, within the period of 1970 and 2000, about 58 million people across central and West Africa, including nearly 29 million children were acutely food insecure. A lot of households faced serious food shortages that greatly reduced their daily food consumption, which resulted in severe malnutrition and food borne illness. More than half of the households affected by this acute food insecurity are in the democratic Republic of Congo. Conflicts in this country as well as other countries in the Central African region left many families without access to their fields and has also resulted in a wave of internally displaced people in need. In addition to this, the effects of climate change with floods damaging crops or reduced production of cereals and vegetables due to less and scarce rainfall.

Just as Paul Collier noted, civil conflict pushes a country into a trough of economic and performance and poverty. In the course of these conflicts, agricultural production has been thwarted by prolonged conflicts and political. Prior to the start of the insurgency in the area in 2009, Lake Chad was very active in cross-border trade in goods such as agricultural produce- cereals, cash crops, fish and livestock. It also offered economic opportunities for its residents and migrant labour. However, with the emergence of Boko Haram activities in the region – looting of harvests, raiding of livestock and hindering fishing activities in the region, things have remained unprogressive. Again, insecurity, displacement, and military enforced movement restructurings have stifled agricultural livelihoods as people are often enable to access land or lacks the means to farm. When they are crops are often destroyed or harvested by armed opposition groups. Military imposed restrictions also affect which crops can be planted and where they can be planted. In some areas with high insurgency activities, the production of tall agricultural crops such as maize was restricted to deter hiding places for armed opposition groups. While crop diversification was a primary method for the people to protect against climate variability, many had to use their savings to escape violence and no longer have the means to plant multiple crops in different locations.

Conclusion

Food availability and sustenance in particular and agricultural progression often become a weapon during conflict. The destruction of rural infrastructure, the loss of livestock, deforestation, the widespread use of land mines as well as the production movements result in long-term food security problems, particularly when these factors interact with natural disasters and most importantly, conflicts. This article examined implication of conflict in the violence-ridden Central African Region comprising Central African Republic, Angola, DRC, Chad, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Sao Tome and Principe.

The article examined the geography of the region in a bid to identify the countries that it is comprised of a then explored the resource-related conflicts in countries of the Central African Region-Republic of Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Central African Republic (CAR). Furthermore, the article critically examined the impact of the conflict on selected countries of the region. These counties include Central African Republic, Burundi, Angola and Chad. Overall, the articled emphasized the negative effects of the prolonged conflicts in the region since 1975 on not only the people of the region, but also on their development and growth.

Photo Credits : https://scalingupnutrition.org/news/monitoring-food-security-countries-conflict-situations

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