World Bank approves FCFA 59.6bn financing to boost breeding sector

The Board of the World Bank approved on 27 October 2016, a USD 100 million financing (FCfa 59.6 billion) to help Cameroon improve the productivity, competitiveness and resilience to climate change in the breeding sector during the next six years, we learned through an official communiqué.

The funding will be granted as part of the government initiative called Breeding Development Project (Prodel). Spearheaded by the Ministry of Livestock, Prodel plans to help breeders to sell their products while bringing them immediate and efficient support for some types of crises or emergency situations.

“Considering that livestock farming generates employment for 30% of the rural population, it is primordial to help this sector to further support the economic growth, the creation of jobs, as well as the fight against food insecurity and malnutrition”, explains Elisabeth Huybens, Operations Director at the World Bank for Cameroon. And she adds: “strengthening livestock farming is also about finding a solution to certain climate change effects, such as the reduction in the agricultural production, the deterioration of natural resources, food insecurity and threats on survival means for those most vulnerable”.

According to the World Bank, Prodel will be broken down into four parts. The first section will work at strengthening the capacities of the essential public services in terms of supporting livestock farming and improving access to animal health services, an improved genetic pool and inputs of quality. The second section will be about improving the productivity and marketing of the production of small breeding communities and restore the production capacities of the poorest and most vulnerable households in the Northern and Extreme-North regions.

The third section is about strengthening the links between producer organisations, buyers and financial establishments while enabling producer organisations to seize added value commercial opportunities. The last section will be about supporting the implementation of the first three, monitor the progress of the project and evaluate the results, and finance the studies necessary to carry out this project.