International Exhibition of Agricultural Machinery for December

The steering committee charged with overseeing the fair met in Yaounde on January 21, 2014.

The Yaounde Conference Centre will on December 14 to 19, 2015 host the maiden edition of the International Exhibition of Agricultural Machinery, (IEAMC 2015). The information was revealed in Yaounde yesterday January 21, 2015 during the first steering committee meeting charged with overseeing the ground-breaking event.

The fair will hold on the theme, “Agricultural Revolution: The Stakes and Challenges of Second-generation Agriculture in Cameroon.” Expected in the fair are investors in agricultural machinery, manufacturers, users, vendors and those thinking of improving on food stuff according to the new policy of the Head of State on second generation agriculture. Yesterday’s meeting was expected to draw up the programme of activity for the upcoming fair.\

The First Vice President of the Chamber of Agriculture, Moussa Koue remained optimistic as she chaired yesterday’s get-together, insisting that rudimentary agriculture has over lived its usefulness and it was time things change.

Cameroon has embraced the concept of second-generation agriculture with a high demand for agricultural machinery like tractors, but Moussa Koue strongly holds that it is a complex sector where few people seem to understand the complexities of agricultural machines and tools.

Koue explained that the sector was suffering from disequilibrium whereby small farmers are unable to access the privileged machines at a time the country was seeking to improve agricultural production. With traditional farm tools like hoes and machetes, production can in no way meet demand and this explains why the Chamber of Agriculture, Fisheries, Livestock and Forests of Cameroon, CAREF, took the initiative to organize the first-ever IEAMC to seek ways of mitigating inadequacies in the sector.

The General Coordinator of IEAMC 2015, Elissar Mbang Ekoutou revealed the contours of the trade fair, saying of primary importance was unearthing to visitors the possibility of getting access to farm land as well as helping cooperatives on how to gain access to funding.

Structuring the rural world on mini-industrial production and agricultural processing with the notion to develop sector, provide consumers with quality goods and create jobs was also important. “We want to see how we can help our farmers become entrepreneurs,” stressed Mbang Ekoutou.

The Secretary General of CAREF, Nwana Sama Bernard recalled that there was an increase in the use of tractors in Cameroon but that was not all. “There is a huge demand for rudimentary tools as well but we think as machines are coming in, there is need for its optimal use as well,” he stressed.