Food production in the Republic of Congo is below national consumption requirements. In fact, only two percent of the 10 million hectares of arable land are exploited, meaning 30 percent of annual food consumption is now imported.
Successive armed conflicts in the Republic of Congo over the last decade have had a highly detrimental effect on food production.
Some local products are very expensive, and access to the commodities necessary for an adequate diet for the poor is very limited. Food insecurity has been worsened by interruptions to the railway cargo traffic between Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville.
The internally displaced people that were living in Brazzaville have returned to their homes. However, they still have to reconstruct their livelihoods in places where the local infrastructure has often not yet been rebuilt. About 131,000 people have returned to a completely destroyed Pool region. Some of them have received seeds and tools to restart agricultural activities, but many remain unable to farm because of continued insecurity.
In the Pool, Bouenza and Lekoumou regions, the manioc mosaic virus continues to deprive many households of their main source of revenue and staple food. The virus has reached the plateaux regions and is likely to continue to spread if unchecked.
WFP’s main relief operation in the Republic of Congo targets 165,000 people with food assistance between April 2007 and March 2009 at a cost of US$12.8 million.
While peace accords were signed in 2003, access to many parts of the Pool region remains risky. This instability has reduced the effectiveness of humanitarian and recovery activities, and the 2006 WFP Emergency Food Security Assessment (EFSA) identified the Pool as the most food-insecure and highly vulnerable area of the country.
The overall goal of the relief operation is improved food security and the socio-economic recovery of people affected by armed conflict and poverty. The main objectives are:
