Governments of Central African states and the United Nations are banding together to fight poverty and improve food security in the region by investing in non-wood forest agriculture.

Stanislas Kamanzi, Rwanda’s Minister for Natural Resources, on Wednesday met with about 40 representatives from Central Africa and international organisations at the launch of a UN-led project on promoting non-wood forest products for human consumption as a means of improving food security in the region. 

"The planning and promotion of this project in the five countries of the Congo Basin constitutes an opportunity for the rapid advancement of our processes for reducing the poverty of vulnerable populations and enforcing the security of small businesses,” Kamanzi said.

The project, directed by Food and Agriculture Organisation and funded by the African Development Bank, will run until February 2017.

The AfDB Congo Basin Forest Fund will provide Euros 3.5 million (about Rwf3.2 billion) for sub-regional, national and local projects in Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Burundi, Rwanda and Sao Tome and Principe, focusing on poverty alleviation and sustainable forest management.

Supporting small business owners working in forest-based agriculture will be a key focus of the project.

"The businesses involved in non-wood forest production are mostly informal built by families and communities,” said Dan Rugabira, FAO sub-regional coordinator.

"They don’t have access to information on markets and have problems with property rights.”

Small business owners will learn how to process and market their products through efficient and sustainable practices.

Rugabira also said non-wood forest products are undervalued. He said governments and institutions do not understand the products and the value they bring to the economy, or subsistence farming.

Raymond Mbitikon, executive secretary of the Central Africa Forests Commission, the regional counterpart of FAO, agreed with Rugabira’s comment on undervalued non-wood forest products.

"The project will reinforce the contributions of non-wood food products to the improvement of food security in Central Africa,” he said.

FAO and the Commission will assist the five governments in developing policies that support the right to adequate food and utilise the best practices for providing that food to all citizens.

The Congo Basin produces edible and medicinal plants, bush meat, insects, honey, mushrooms and other non-wood forest projects. About 70 million people survive on products from the Basin.

The population in Central Africa is growing at a rate too fast to be supported solely by traditional agriculture production, FAO says, adding that food insecurity is the main impetus behind the project.