[ti:Agricultural Crisis Looms in CAR] [ar:Christopher Cruise] [al:Agriculture Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, [00:03.09]this is the Agriculture Report. [00:06.23]The United Nations says farmers [00:09.21]in the Central African Republic [00:11.55]need seeds and tools [00:14.87]before the next planting season [00:17.16]if the country is to avoid a food crisis. [00:20.59]Two high-level UN officials were recently in Bangui [00:25.80]- the capital of the CAR. [00:28.09]One of them: John Ging is the operations director [00:32.97]of the U.N. Office for the Coordination [00:36.31]of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). [00:38.30]He told reporters the international community [00:42.54]must help Central Africans [00:44.87]displaced by fight to plant enough food for the next harvest [00:50.14]- the next planting season begins in March. [00:53.97]"The most urgent needs are exactly what you would expect [00:58.10]- assistance with the seeds and tools [01:01.88]for helping themselves to recover their livelihoods. [01:07.26]We've got to focus on helping people [01:10.10]to help themselves," he said. [01:11.19]The United Nations says conflict within the CAR [01:15.37]has displaced more than 800,000 people, [01:19.41]most of them since September. [01:21.70]It says not enough land was planted [01:24.69]because of the conflict throughout the country last year. [01:29.02]Food supplies are now very low [01:31.90]and there is a shortage of seeds. [01:34.74]A complete breakdown of law and order last year [01:39.47]meant that crime was a problem. [01:42.25]In many areas, bandits stole seeds, farm animals, [01:47.58]tools and other equipment, [01:50.12]some villages were burned to the ground. [01:53.70]The group - Human Rights Watch [01:56.49]has been watching the situation in the country. [01:59.92]It says the Seleka rebels who seized power last March [02:04.60]destroyed many areas even after their leader had become president. [02:10.97]The Central African Republic is home to about 4.5 million people, [02:17.14]but the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says [02:21.82]more than one million of them [02:23.66]lack a reliable, dependable food supply. [02:27.59]Last month, Mr Ging called for more aid organizations to come to the CAR. [02:35.04]"We need more of the large international [02:39.12]non-governmental organizations [NGOs] to come here - urgently. [02:43.45]If you go to any of the countries [02:46.23]where we have very large humanitarian operations, [02:49.67]you will see all of the big international [02:53.90]non-governmental organizations present in those countries. [02:57.68]Many of those large international organizations [03:00.27]are not present in this country," said Mr Ging. [03:02.21]He also asked for more money to meet the needs of the country. [03:06.64]So far, he said, only $30 million had been received [03:12.61]after groups asked for $247 million. [03:17.49]He said the needs are increasing. [03:21.75]And that's the Agriculture Report from VOA Learning English. [03:28.08]For more stories about agriculture, [03:31.26]go to our website 51voa.com. [03:37.53]Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube [03:44.00]all at VOA Learning English. [03:47.09]Write to us, our email address is learningenglish@voanews.com. [03:55.94]I'm Christopher Cruise. [03:58.04]¸ü¶àÌýÁ¦Çë·ÃÎÊ51voa.com