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Geography, agriculture and the economy

Geography

The Republic of Chad is a vast, landlocked country in Central Africa. It shares borders with Libya to the north, the Central African Republic to the south, Sudan to the east and Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon to the west. With a total land area of 1,284,000 km2, Chad is the fifth largest nation in Africa.

Chad's wide range in latitudes, extending southward from the tropic of Cancer for more than 15°, is matched by a climatic range that varies from wet and dry tropical, to hot and arid. A key characteristic of the climate is its seasonality. In the semi-humid Guinean zone in the far south of the country, rainfall is abundant between May and October. In the Sudan zone towards the north, the rainy season becomes shorter, with only 500 to 1,000 mm, and only 200 to 500 mm in the semi-arid Sahel zone. Here, most of the rains fall between July and September. As the limit of rain-fed agriculture lies in this zone, pastoral land use has great importance in the Sahel zone, which is regularly hit by drought. In the Sahara Desert area in the far north, rains are infrequent.

The country's morphology is marked by the Lake Chad Basin. The larger, northern portion of the basin is bounded within Chad by the Tibesti Mountains in the northwest, the Ennedi Plateau in the northeast, the Ouaddaï Highlands in the east along the border with Sudan, the Guéra Massif in central Chad, and the Mandara Mountains along Chad's south-western border with Cameroon. Chad's main rivers are the Chari and the Logone and their tributaries, which flow from the southeast into Lake Chad. Both river systems rise in the highlands of the Central African Republic and Cameroon, regions that receive abundant annual rainfall.

There are no permanent streams in northern or central Chad. Infrequent rainfall in the Ennedi Plateau and Ouaddaï Highlands may send water flowing through depressions known as ouadis. These streams are often the result of flash floods. They usually dry out within a few days as the remaining puddles seep into the sandy clay soil. The most important of these streams is the Batha, which in the rainy season carries water west from the Ouaddaï Highlands and the Guéra Massif to Lake Fitri.

Water scarcity is the key limiting factor for agriculture, and a major risk factor at the same time. Rainfall variability constitutes one of the greatest threats facing rural households. In the areas where rainfall is low and the rainy seasons are short, rainfall variability, dry spells and drought are more common. The catastrophic droughts in the Sahel region in the 1970s and 1980s drew the world's attention to the plight of those living in the area. Poor and vulnerable households, unable to generate enough income to keep up with rising staple food prices were left without livelihoods and food.

As a result of the limited productivity of natural resources, the overall population density is relatively low. The country's estimated 9.7 million inhabitants (World Bank 2005) live mainly in the central and southern zones. Only 4 per cent of the population live in the northern Saharan area. The population is growing at an annual rate of about 3.1 per cent.

Following its independence in 1960 the country experienced widespread civil and military instability, largely a result of competition over scarce resources, interwoven with ethnic tensions and conflict, and fuelled by worsening poverty and famine. Since the mid 1990s the situation has stabilized somewhat, although violence continues in some parts of the country, especially in the north. About 140,000 internal refugees have been displaced by civil conflict. The country has also absorbed about 200,000 refugees from Sudan's Darfur region and the Central African Republic.

Economy

Traditionally the agricultural and the services sector have dominated Chad's economy. The main exports have been cotton, livestock, leather and gum arabic. The country faces a number of constraints to economic development, especially its extreme isolation. The nearest seaport, Douala in Cameroon, is 1,800 km away. Transportation networks within the country are very limited. Internal instability and drought have gradually undermined Chad’s economic potential.

With the current exploitation of its mineral oil resources the structure of the country’s economy is changing radically. In 2003 a US$4 billion pipeline linking Chad's oilfields to terminals on the Atlantic coast was completed, and the country became an oil-producing nation. The sector continues to have the support of major foreign investments and gross domestic product (GDP) growth has accelerated as a result. A 1999 law stipulates that 80 per cent of direct revenues from oil are to finance priority sectors such as health, education, infrastructure, rural development, environment and water.

Agriculture

Agriculture has traditionally accounted for about 40 per cent of GDP and for 80 per cent of the country's exports. The recent discovery of oil and its potential as a source of export revenue overshadow agriculture’s contribution to the economy. But for most Chadians, agriculture remains the main source of livelihood. More than 80 per cent of the country's population are engaged in agriculture, from subsistence farming, raising livestock and herding, to forestry and fishing. Intensive farming is concentrated in the central uplands area, home to small-scale farmers and agro-pastoralists. They produce a few primary products for export such as cotton and livestock; cattle, sheep, goats and camels. Other important agricultural products are sorghum, millet, peanuts and rice. Chad possesses about 20 per cent of the world market share of gum arabic, and is the world’s second largest producer after Sudan. There is also good potential to develop market opportunities for the production of sesame. 

The cereals that are the staple food of many Chadians are particularly vulnerable to climatic conditions. Persistent drought over the 1970s and 1980s, coupled with continuous overuse of natural resources has led to increased desertification and has weakened the resource base. Frequent erratic weather conditions in recent decades have had a devastating effect on productivity, and food deficits are a major problem across the nation.  In most areas the pressure on productive resources such as land, water and pasture has become intense.

Chad has considerable potential for agricultural development. Arable land is estimated at 39 million ha, of which only about 6 per cent is currently cultivated. If the appropriate technologies are introduced for irrigation, some of this land could become very productive. There is a potential for developing small-scale irrigation on a large scale, using some of many untapped sources of underground water. Presently only about 7,000 ha are irrigated.

Source: IFAD