Agricultural ecosystems

Of the 150,000 km2 or 1,500,000 ha of agricultural land, only 7,000 km2 are cultivated each year. The pasture area which is 160,000 km2 is also far from being fully utilized. Agriculture is concentrated in the forest zone of the South-West, subject to
tropical rains, and in the savannah zones of the North-East and the centre. Less than 5% of the country's surface area is occupied by small family-type farms, i.e. 1.7 ha per household of 5 people on average. Food crops represent 75% of cultivated areas and are often self-consumed.

Of the 150,000 km2 or 1,500,000 ha of agricultural land, only 7,000 km2 are cultivated each year. The pasture area which is 160,000 km2 is also far from being fully utilized. Agriculture is concentrated in the forest zone of the South-West, subject to tropical rains, and in the savannah zones of the North-East and the centre. Less than 5% of the country's surface area is occupied by small family-type farms, i.e. 1.7 ha per household of 5 people on average. Food crops represent 75% of cultivated areas and are often self-consumed.
There are different crops made up of root crops and tubers (cassava, sweet potato yam, taro and maccabo), cereals (maize, rice, sorghum, millet, fonio, eulesin), oilseeds (groundnuts, sesame, soy ), associated with banana and plantain, squash, and melons, etc. We note the presence of vegetables and fruit trees whose areas and production are poorly known.
The seeds consist of local varieties whose choice and conservation in situ are not well controlled, which exposes them to pronounced genetic erosion.
Cotton, coffee, tobacco, oil palm and sugar cane are industrial crops identified in the different ecological zones. Tobacco cultivation has been in sharp decline over the past few decades in the country.
Crop production is dominated by food crops (663,000 ha). Cassava, which is the staple food of the populations, plays an important part in this production. The annual production of this crop in 2002 was 562,000 tonnes and concerned 40% of farms.
Next come groundnuts and maize, whose production amounts to 122,000 and 10,000 tonnes respectively. Sorghum, millet, sesame, rice, market garden crops, yam, taro or plantain are produced in smaller quantities and intended mainly for
home consumption. The performances of these different speculations are generally mediocre.
Average yield levels are 3 tons/ha for cassava; 900 kg/ha for maize and groundnut; and 1.1 tonnes for sorghum. The productions are mainly intended for self-consumption. The market garden crops produced consist of a wide range of
vegetables, most of which come from improved species: amaranth, spinach, okra, tomato, eggplant, sorrel, pepper, cucumber, lettuce, green bean, carrot, etc.).
Stockbreeding experienced rapid growth, favored by the large availability of pasture and water in the CAR, making this country, which was a net importer of cattle in the early 1970s, an exporter of cattle mainly to Congo, Cameroon and Nigeria. However, it is dominated by transhumant cattle, with an estimated number in 2002/2003 of 3,348,000 head, to which must be added approximately 150,000 trypano-tolerant cattle. This herd produces 98% of the beef production and 100% of the country's dairy production. The grazing lands and rangeland totaling 16 million hectares capable of supporting up to 5 million head of cattle are far from being
fully exploited.
Beekeeping production is estimated at around 6,000 tonnes of honey marketed each year. Beekeeping activities have been initiated in the southwestern forest areas and also in the north of the country as an income-generating activity.