TRANSFAGRI programme: Steering Committee evaluates road covered in 2023, makes projections for 2024.

This was the focus of the 5th Steering Committee session which held in Yaounde on Tuesday, December 5.

The session was chaired by the Minister of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts, Achille Bassilekin III, in his capacity as the President of the TRANSFAGRI programme Steering Committee.

In his opening remarks, Minister Bassilekin III said the members of the committee have to follow up the implementation of activities, examine eventual difficulties and propose solutions.

“Our role as members of this committee is to ensure that agricultural SMEs deploy well with efficiency. The ultimate ambition being to guarantee quality production in production basins but also make available raw material that our transformation units need. This is to fulfil government’s objective of transformation in agri-food sector but also to boost food security,” Bassilekin III said.

He added: “…figures from the National Development Strategy, SND 30, informs us that in 2017, 16% households were not able to cover up their food needs and this is even more preoccupying in the rural parts of the country. Hence there is the challenge linked to the amelioration of food security but as well the necessity to create employment and generate revenue from this sector”.

The member of government saluted the French Development Agency, AFD, and Debt Reduction-Development Contract, C2D, for accompanying government in the realisation of the programme.

Such, he said, is a proof of the fruitful cooperation between Cameroon and France for the promotion of the agricultural sector and agri-food.