During the harvest period, high levels of food insecurity persist in conflict zones

Despite the announcement of the unilateral ceasefire for the Central African army and its allies by the Central African President on October 15, 2021, the security situation in the country remains precarious. The country continues to be highly unstable with the resumption of abuses by rebel groups in the agricultural regions of the South-East, North, North-East and West of the country. For example, according to key informants and Radio Ndékéluka, clashes continued in the sub-prefecture of Bocaranga in Ouham-Pendé, forcing people to flee to Cameroon.

The first harvests that began in October are considered average compared to last year, however in conflict-affected areas and those with difficult access, largely under occupation by armed groups, harvests are lower than average. The presence of such armed groups and their exploitations on populations make access to fields and crops difficult for peasants. This situation is particularly prevalent in the prefectures of Nana-Mambéré, Ouham, Ouham-Fafa, Ouaka, Basse-Kotto and Mbomou.

External flows of staple foods are average and internal flows remain average in Bangui and in the center-east of the country, but are below average in most of the rest of the country. This results in a weak supply of imported and local products in markets. The country's poor security conditions, difficult access to production areas, deterioration of roads and commercial corridors, restrictions on population movements (ban on movement beyond 5 km from cities for more than two months and a curfew) and harassment on trade routes strongly affect the availability and accessibility of staple food products. The prices of imported products (rice, white beans, frozen food products such as fish, broiler chickens, and other basic necessities) are still high in most markets. However, the prices of local agricultural products (maize, cassava, local rice and peanuts) are falling on account of the current harvests.

Food security in CAR remains fragile and the difficulties of accessing crops have led to a huge deterioration in the livelihoods of the poor populations, which in turn leads to a decline in their purchasing power. The current curfew (from 10 pm to 5am) implemented by government authorities since August 2021 throughout the country continues to further reduce and limit the implementation of income-generating activities (mainly in informal and tertiary sectors) for the poor. Many poor households resort to wild harvested products to meet their minimum food needs (dried caterpillars, dried mushrooms, gnetum plant, and wild yam).

The latest results from the IPC acute food insecurity analysis conducted in September 2021 estimated that a large portion of the population, especially poor host households and IDPs in the Northern, West and South-East prefectures, will be food in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) in 2022 mainly due to early depletion of stocks and low income levels, given the deterioration of security and resurgence of armed violence in these regions of the country.