More Cassava Procession Specialists Graduate

Nine of them graduated from the Pilot Incubation Centre of the Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday.

The three main objectives of the Bonaberi Pilot Incubation Centre, operating under the Cameroon Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Social Handicraft (CCIMA) based in Douala were met last Wednesday September 11.

This was during the graduation ceremony of the second and third batches of workers who had undergone two-month training from July 17 to September 9. Out of the 11 registered trainees, only 9 emerged successful after both the theoretical and practical training sessions, with an 80% overall pass. Aimed at fighting against youth unemployment; providing technical training to youths on the mechanical processing of agricultural products; and fostering entrepreneurial spirit amongst youth towards job creation and the establishment of semi-industries; the ceremony marked an additional stride in the provision of substantial solutions to match up with changing trends in the agricultural sector.

According to the President of the Chamber of Commerce, Christophe Eken, Cameroon produces between two and three million tonnes of cassava per year, whereby 80% are exported in brute state. The centre therefore, will foster the education, training and socio-economic insertion of the youth folk towards boosting food provision within a very short term. Through the setting up of an equipped semi-industrial transformation unit at the end of their training, the graduates will be able to apply their skills as well as generate income.

Christophe Eken announced the putting in place of a nursery for enterprises in Boadibong, (after Bonaberi) to accompany budding promoters in projects geared towards the industrial transformation of agricultural products in general and cassava in particular. The upcoming initiative, he explained, is a fallout of the business trip to India in March, led the Prime Minister, Head of Government's, Philemon Yang, where CCIMA contracted a protocol of agreement with the Indian government through the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).