Farmers in the South West Region have been warned to shun the habit of using farm inputs from government and other international donors for family or greedy interest.
South West Regional delegate of Agriculture and Rural Development MINADER James Enang issued the warning on Friday October 3, 2014 while overseeing the handing over of equipment to facilitators of CCEP and the Konye Farmers cooperative KONAFCOOP within Konye. The event was staged at the community development school Kumba.
The equipments donated were from the international Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in collaboration with the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) to step up the income of cocoa farmers, sustain production through intensive farming and diversification.
Enang cautioned the beneficiaries to invest the donations in the best ways available to increase the quantity and quality of cocoa produced in the Region.
Speaking on behalf of Judith Van Eijnatten, country representative of SNV Cameroon, Charles Tah stated that, the package given to the farmers constituted 10 new motorcycles, 10 wheel barrows, 10 humid meters, improved plantain seedlings and cassava cuttings.
Tah disclosed that, the project nurtured under a partnership between SNV and IITA is due to the failing standards of cocoa production as a result of aging farms and climate change.
The Program Tah stated falls within sustainable cocoa production, climate change, cooperative development, linking the farmers to a suitable market and the next generation of cocoa farming.
While appreciating support from MINADER, the SNV official corroborated the regional delegate in suing for an indiscriminate use of the equipment and farm inputs placed at the dispersal of farmers.
Representing Hana Rachid of IITA Cameroon, Martin Yemefack explained that, the project is under implementations in two places across the country namely Konye in the Southwest Region and Ayos in the Centre Region.
Edward Eyabu Elangwe of KONAFCOOP, appreciated the IITA SNV gesture but urged the donors to equally invest resources in the domain of strengthening the farmers in the modern systems of farming .Eyabu cited the case of the absence of data on the actual sizes of the farms of the over 375 members of KOONAFCOOP.
Corroborating Bau Akama Makia Ndedi second deputy mayor to the Konye council who raised the issue of bad roads, Eyabu decried the consequences of the road on the sale of their farm produce.
Makia regretted that, the ceremony that had earlier on been billed for Konye was staged in Kumba because the roads leading to Konye have remain almost impassable for the last two to five months.
The prime goal of the project is geared towards supporting government in designing a suitable land use and cocoa agro forestry system in Cameroon.Konye has been chosen as a pilot site for the project in the South West Region.
