As project negotiates final bend: Committee hails management team of Agricultural Infrastructure & Value Chain Dev’t Project.

The Steering Committee gave the score at the end of AIVDP’s ninth Steering Committee meeting. The meeting was held in Buea, Wednesday September 18, 2024.

The Project Steering Committee meeting had as primary focus to review and approve the report of the External Auditor of the 2023 audit report, which is based on the 2023 financial statements, and the expenditures that were procured by the management team within that year.

The Project since inception focuses on the development of eight crops, including cassava, rice, plantain, potatoes, oil palm and cocoa, and providing opportunities to farmers in the Region to transform their produce into finished products or boost the value of their local produce. 

Addressing committee members, the President of the Steering Committee, Minister Gabriel Mbairobe, said the project was making true farmers’ dreams of making agriculture a viable business and not just a way of life. 

“Food should be both readily available and at affordable prices in our markets, thereby ensuring that all Cameroonians have regular access to food, balanced diets and regular meals daily,” the minister said.

Given the continuous rise in food prices in local markets, and President Biya’s drive to promote the consumption of local produce, he called on farmers to make proper use of the facilities and opportunities provided by AIVDP to ensure that local markets are filled with local products. 

Such a drive by farmers will ensure that the sector contributes to the implementation of the Three-year Integrated Import Substitution Plan (IISP) for 2024-2026 prescribed by the government of Cameroon. 

“Projects such as the AIVDP are thus instrumental in implementing Government policies in the Agricultural sector,” he added.

The Project has distributed significant amounts of planting materials and inputs to thousands of farmers at subsidized prices.

The donations included 1,000,000 oil palm chitted nuts to 2,259 farmers for an estimated area of 6,666 hectares. 

Also, 166,735 cocoa pods (4,168,375 seedlings) were distributed to 820 farmers and cooperatives for an estimated area of 3,789 hectares while 23,130 grafted cocoa seedlings were offered 36 farmers for an estimated area planted of 14 hectares.

Also, 59,129 grafted citrus seedlings were distributed to 584 farmers for an estimated area of 230.8 hectares. 

More so, 7,995,800 cassava cuttings have been distributed to 3,186 farmers for an estimated planted area of 677.4 hectares. 

Equally, 1,037,455 plantain plantlets/suckers were distributed to 2,825 farmers for an estimated planted area of 768.3 hectares while 117.86 tonnes of potato seeds were offered 123 farmers for an estimated planted area of 59 hectares.

The project also donated 97 tons of rice seeds to 938 farmers for an estimated area planted of 1,940 hectares.

In addition to these huge quantities of seeds and other planting materials and inputs, an irrigation network for 200ha of arable land is nearing completion (165ha done), and the construction and installation of various processing units for cocoa, oil palm, cassava, and rice hulling units are ongoing. 

Furthermore, work on the construction of 70km and rehabilitation of 220km of feeder roads is underway to enhance the living conditions of project beneficiaries.

Speaking to the press after the meeting, the President of the Steering Committee expressed his satisfaction with the work done by AIVDP in alleviating the plight of denizens of the region. 

The satisfactory remarks, according to him, is because of the visible impact on beneficiaries in the different communities.

On his part, the Project Coordinator, Dr Besong Orgork Ntui, expressed his joy that the resources that were put at the disposal of the project execution team were used for the purposes for which they were intended.

The Project Coordinator also revealed that the project has achieved a lot with physical realisation at 67% while financial realisation is at 50%. 

In this light, he expressed confidence that by the end of the project in 2025, all the goals set out at the beginning will be achieved.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post issue N0:3235 of Friday September 20, 2024