FAO’s presence is run by the Subregional Office (SFC) for Central Africa, based in Libreville (Gabon) and covering the following countries: Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and São Tomé and Príncipe.

Created on 11 May 2006, under the agreement signed between the Government of Gabon and FAO, the SFC Office was officially opened in July 2007. It was set up as part of the FAO decentralization process, to enable the Organization to respond more quickly and specifically to the needs of member countries and the subregional organizations of Central Africa, in the following domains:

• agricultural policy;
• sustainable management of forestry ecosystems, agro-ecosystems, and natural resources;
• agricultural productions (crops, livestock, fisheries, and forestry);
• food and nutritional security;
• emergency actions in response to natural and anthropic catastrophes.

It also supports the two subregional integration organizations, namely the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CAEMC), along with their specialized institutions (COMIFAC, COREP, CEBEVIRHA, ISTA, PRASAC).

• The total population of the eight countries covered by the FAO subregional office in central Africa is about 100 million. The subregion has enormous agricultural potential:
• dense rain forests of the Congo basin (204,000,000 ha, yielding 12 million m3 of wood per year); protected areas (18.5 million ha, 10% of the subregion);
• abundant land resources (27,061,000 ha), numerous river basins;
• grazing land (155,952,000 ha);
• seaboard (1,200 km of coastline): abundant network of watersheds suitable for fishing and aquaculture.

Subregional Coordinator for Central Africa: Hélder Muteia : Biography