Opening the endorsement workshop, the South West Delegate of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries, Prince Dr. Agbaw Takang, urged the 21 participants from the Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development, MINADER and Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries, MINEPIA to be sincere with their demands. The workshop facilitator, Ngoune Edimo, in charge of Monitoring and Evaluation at AMO, presented the results of the study. AMO experts were on the field in the region three months ago where they met service providers and frontline agricultural, fisheries and animal livestock farmers to assess functional needs in order to increase production. AMO is expected to use results of the study in developing a project proposal for the supply of expressed needs to MINEPIA and MINEADER staff.
The AMO programme aims at improving the activities of agriculture, livestock and fisheries professionals to face the production challenges of the 21st Century. Funded by the French Development Agency since 2008, AMO budgeted FCFA 6.9 billion for its first phase that runs till 2011 in all regions. The AMO programme stems from an international debt reduction agreement between France and Cameroon for the revival of large-scale sectors of agriculture, livestock and fisheries. It is part of the rural development component of the Strategy Paper for Growth and Employment of the Government of Cameroon. The initiative, acclaimed by the rural sector, is based on the Debt Reduction Development Agreement (C2D).
AMO also seeks to reinforce the monitoring and evaluating capacities of MINADER and MINEPIA frontline staff. It supports the gathering of statistics, staff training in remote areas and promotes dialogue among stakeholders. Among its achievements in the past three years are a new database for future censuses, acquisition of computers, training of staff in the use of Excel and Word soft wares, carrying out of studies in cross-border markets and the putting in place of a monitoring system for cereals.
