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Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – Finding a common strategy for fighting the food crisis is the focus of the meeting that has begun July 28 in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, bringing together the Ministers of Agriculture, Economy, Commerce, and Finance of the countries of the Economic Community of Central African States (CEEAC).
“It’s time to place agricultural at the heart of the development agenda and coordinate the regional policies in order to increase agricultural production,” Congo’s President Joseph Kabila stated in his opening address.
The leader of Congo and President of the CEEAC explained that “aware of the negative effects of the food crisis on our people, of whom a large number live under the scourge of poverty, I have called this meeting in hope of analyzing the situation and identifying the causes of the crisis, in order to determine the necessary measures to be taken.”
The countries in the area are doing well in terms of agricultural resources, in comparison with other parts of Africa. The problem is that the government funding allotted to agriculture is minimal and the farmers do not have the proper instruments to take full advantage of the best nature has to offer. Subsistence farming still prevails and the State is having to import goods to cover the food deficit.
The meeting of Ministers was preceded by a preparatory convention of experts of the CEEAC who enumerated a series of recommendations. The experts indicated that the main causes of the food instability in the region are the absence of a common agricultural policy, the lack of capacity among the farmers, some environmental factors (drought, floods, etc.), the presence of conflict and instability, etc.
Among the suggestions made by the group of experts were: food aid for the countries recently emerged from conflict, keeping in mind the negative effects that this can cause on the local economies; forming strategic food stocks; distribution of fertilizer, seeds, livestock feed to citizens; formation of a regional trade market; increase of inter-community trade, eliminating tariff and non-tariff blocks; the creation of an information and awareness system on food security, with a databank and efficient monitoring statistics. This system would guarantee the observation and control of agricultural production, the prices of the products, and population risk. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 29/7/2008)
