MINEPAT officially hands over the machines to MINADER in Ebolowa this Tuesday March 13.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MINADER) will today receive from the Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT) 111 tractors and 1,618 other agricultural equipment to boost mechanisation of agriculture in the country. An official ceremony to hand over the machines from the tractor-assembling plant in Ngalane, Ebolowa, to the user ministry takes place in Ebolowa this Tuesday March 13.
According to a news release from MINEPAT, the ceremony will be chaired by the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development. MINEPAT’s presence in Ebolowa this today, the release further states, will also enable him to evaluate the level of advancement of the construction of a tractor-assembly chain in the town since his last visit to the site last January 20, 2012. Reports say the 10-hectare Ebolowa tractor-assembly plant needs an investment of over FCFA 18 billion. According to the terms of a financing agreement signed on April 20, 2009 in New Delhi, India, between the government of Cameroon and Eximbank of India, a tractor-assembly chain was to be put in place with a capacity of eight to 12 tractors daily, as well as an area for the manufacture of small agricultural equipment, a training centre for operators of the tractors as well as for technicians and other stakeholders.
Sources in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development say the tractors and other farming machines will be handed over to users on March 27, 2012 during the launching of this year’s agricultural season. In an earlier interview granted Cameroon Tribune by MINADER boss, Essimi Menye, the tractors will both be given out gratis as well as sold. Priority, he said, will be given to agricultural schools that need to start training on its use. A vast training campaign is in view to better arm farmers on the efficient use of the tractors. Information from MINEPAT indicates that the second phase of Cameroon/India partnership envisages the acquisition of bulldozing machines to prepare the terrain, especially forestry zones, for the tractors.
