Board members adopted the package and action plan during its 44^th board meeting on thursday. The Livestock Development Fund for the North (CDEN) will in the ongoing year function with a budget of FCFA 560 million. The package represents a FCFA 78 million increase from that of last year which stood at FCFA 482 million.

The package was adopted yesterday March 3, 2011 by board members during the Fund’s 44^th board meeting which held in the Conference Hall of the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries (MINEPIA). Chaired by MINEPIA boss, Aboubakar Sarki, in the presence of all of the governors of the three northern regions, the session was to evaluate the path covered last year and where attention will be focused this year so as to meet the challenges facing livestock production in the country and the northern regions in particular. According to Dr. Sarki, 2010 was generally a satisfactory one for the Fund, irrespective of the financial constraints that characterised the entire economy. He disclosed that the Fund’s budget of FCFA 482 million had a 107 per cent revenue collection rate and 78 per cent expenditure rate.

In a chat with CT, the Administrative Director of CDEN, Dr. Djibrine Mahamat, said in 2010 strides were recorded in so many areas. “We did mostly investment on infrastructure such as pastoral wells, built cattle crutches for the main cattle markets in the three northern regions and the crutches have also been used for the mass vaccination campaign against the main epizootic diseases”. He added that with a vaccination budget of FCFA 50 million, which was a revolving fund since 2009, CDEN supplied vaccines bought from LANAVET to regional delegations for vaccination campaigns.

Priority this year, he stressed, will be to supply water to breeders and reduce the usual movement of cattle (trans-humance) in search of the precious but scarce liquid. “We intend to embark on investments on water points given that water is the main problem in the three northern regions, continue with the construction of cattle crutches as well as construct veterinary centres. We will also assist the Swine Programme so as to compensate farmers who lost their pigs during the African swine fever epidemics”, Dr. Mahamat disclosed.

CDEN is an agency of MINEPIA created since August 1966 to assist government in collecting revenue from livestock activities and also assisting breeders to boost production.