How increasing food security strengthens prospects for peace
Case study: Cassava in northern Central African Republic
Perched on top of a rock in the middle of bushland in Ouham-Pendé prefecture, near CAR’s border with Chad, Sidonie Koinbale is processing her crop of cassava. After soaking it to remove naturally-occurring toxins, Sidonie is using a hammer to beat it into a fine powder, before laying it out to dry in the sun. When finished, she can turn it into flour and other products in order to feed her family or sell on for profit.
The IAEA says cassava, which is also known as yuca or manioc, is eaten by around half a billion people globally each day, with African countries accounting for about 60% of total production. But despite the root plant’s popularity and economic importance, people in northern CAR tell us they’re often hesitant to grow it, because the young plants are highly vulnerable to damage. If armed conflict breaks out or if cattle trespass into the fields, the whole crop will be lost.
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Production is made more challenging, in that there are no dedicated facilities to process the harvested tubers. This is why Sidonie, and countless farmers like her, are forced to improvise and seek out hard, heat-absorbing spaces such as rocky outcrops or roadsides in order to dry their produce. This often takes them far from the village, where they are at risk from bandits, women like Sidonie are at risk of sexual attacks, and their crop is at risk of being taken by the animals of passing herdsmen.
“If I don’t stay here with my produce, oxen will eat it,” says Sidonie, while her young son plays next to her pile of drying cassava. “If I dry my cassava at home, oxen won’t eat it but other animals in the village, such as pigs and goats, will. We have to stay here to keep an eye on it until it’s dry.”
Animals eating the produce of farmers like Sidonie affects families’ food supply and damages the local economy. It also leads to conflict between different social groups, such as between settled and nomadic populations. This can often become violent.
“If I don’t stay here with my produce, oxen will eat it”
-Sidonie, cassava farmer
“We leave the fields to avoid getting into conflict with herders”
-Mbailary, cassava farmer
To address this issue, Concordis is organising the construction of a number of cassava drying facilities in safer locations across CAR’s northern borderlands. The drying areas consist of a flat, concreted area that’s fenced off to protect both the cassava farmers and their produce. Located inside or on the boundaries of villages, they are far less exposed to being attacked by bandits.
“We don't have drying areas in the village,” says local farmer Mbailary Robertine, as she looks on at the construction of a Concordis-supported facility in the village of Ndim. “We dry our cassava on tarpaulins, but it's difficult to get those in the village. There are rocks in the fields that we use as drying areas, but insecurity is rife there.”
“When we see herders coming, we leave the fields to avoid getting into conflict with them,” Mbailary adds.
Concordis first identified the need for dedicated cassava drying areas in CAR during consultations in 2022, and the team believes their construction will vastly improve the security situation. The plant has been widely recognised as a key tool African nations can use to reduce their dependence on imported wheat flour, thus improving food security and helping boost their economies.
In Ndim and villages like it across the region, the benefits of the safe production and trade of cassava will be very tangible. Instead of animals taking the farmers’ produce from rocks and roadsides, it will be sold as food to the animals’ owners. Farmers say they need this money to pay for basics such as soap, or to cover school fees - thus giving their children a fair start in life and the chance of a brighter future. And herders like this too – they benefit from both cassava to eat and the safety that comes from improved relationships with local farmers.
Key to the sustainability of this project is that it has been delivered alongside the affected populations. They asked for these drying areas, decided where they should be located and set up local structures to manage them. Concordis hired young people from the area to undertake the construction, further improving the local economy and promoting economic ties between social groups. By generating a diverse range of livelihoods for different parts of the population, society as a whole stands to benefit. Rather than different groups seeing each other as a threat, they will become trading partners and are given clear incentives to live together peacefully.
“Concordis helping to construct cassava drying areas is an important part of our peacebuilding toolkit,” says Concordis Chief Executive Peter Marsden. “Through all our consultations, dialogues and peace conferences we work to identify and address the root causes of conflict – with this project we also get to tackle one of those conflict drivers ourselves. These small infrastructure projects create important building blocks in the long-term work of transforming seasonal cattle migration from being a cause of armed conflict to being a driver of peace and economic prosperity. They create ‘peace dividends’, which can be shared by all groups.”