Conflict and lean season constraining already limited food access in the north

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As the lean season reaches its peak in the north of the country, households continue to tend their fields and sow cereal crops. In the most insecure regions (Ouham-Pendé, Haute-Kotto, and Vakaga) last year's harvests were well below average due to conflict-related reductions in area-cultivated and constrained household access to fields. Food prices, which are already high during the lean season, are increasing due to reduced cultivated areas and disruption to markets and trade flows. Poor households, which exhausted their food reserves several months ago, are struggling to meet their minimum food requirements. The October harvests are expected to be unfavorable, and households will experience Stressed (IPC Phase 2) outcomes. The poorest, refugee, and IDPs households have been unable to grow crops or carry out typical income-generating activities due to insecurity and are likely to face Crisis (IPC Phase 3) outcomes until January 2025.
In the southern part of the country, green harvests of maize, groundnuts, squash, and beans are available and improving households' access to food. The consumption of these products, along with the availability of foraging products such as mushrooms, caterpillars, and hunting and fishing products, enables them to meet their essential food and non-food needs, resulting in Minimal (IPC Phase 1) outcomes. The poorest households are Stressed (IPC Phase 2) due to soaring food prices. However, in conflict-affected areas such as Haut-Mboumou, significantly below-average harvests will likely only marginally improve household access to food and income. Persistent insecurity means that poor or displaced households will face Crisis (IPC Phase 3) outcomes as their food stocks will deplete atypically early and limited access to livelihood activities such as gathering, hunting, or fishing will reduce their income.
Despite efforts by the Central African government and its partners to protect civilians, reduce insecurity, and mitigate violence linked to livestock migration, the security situation in the Central African Republic remains fragile, particularly at border crossings. The civilian population is regularly subject to attacks and assaults, particularly along main roads, which also disrupts supply of certain markets. In the Vakaga Region in particular, the growing insecurity and banditry resulting from the war in neighboring Sudan will likely continue to disrupt market operations, leading to soaring food prices that could jeopardize poor households' access to sufficient food.
Insecurity in Sudan continues to draw large numbers of Sudanese refugees to the Central African Republic. According to OCHA, more than 28,000 Sudanese refugees have arrived since the start of the crisis in April 2023. In rural areas in the east of the country, the presence of these refugees has increased competition for already limited resources and income opportunities. The delivery of humanitarian food aid continues, albeit with some difficulties in access to landlocked areas due to the state of roads in the rainy season. However, in July, the WFP and partner NGOs distributed food and meals to Sudanese refugees at the Korsi reception site in Vakaga Region, where almost 10,000 refugees have arrived since the beginning of the year.

Recommended citation: FEWS NET. Central African Republic Key Message Update July 2024: Conflict and lean season constraining already limited food access in the north, 2024.

This Key Message Update provides a high-level analysis of current acute food insecurity conditions and any changes to FEWS NET's latest projection of acute food insecurity outcomes in the specified geography. Learn more here.