They recently received fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides from SOWEDA worth over FCFA 15 million.

Some sixty (60) Common Initiative Groups (CIGs) drawn from the six divisions of the South West Region have benefitted from farm inputs offered by the South West Development Authority (SOWEDA). The ceremony to hand over the inputs worth over FCFA 15 million took place at the SOWEDA esplanade Thursday 18 September under the auspices of the Secretary General at the South West Governor’s office, Clement Fon Ndikum.

Handing over the donation which consisted of 429 bags of fertilizers, 640 litres of herbicides, 320 litres of insecticides and 64 kilogrammes of maize seeds, the General Manager of SOWEDA, Dr. Eneme Andrew Ngome indicated that the institution has since 2008 not relented in trying to improve agricultural performance in the region through the distribution of improved planting materials and farm inputs. The inputs being distributed at the threshold of the planting season according to him, will sufficiently increase soil fertility and by extension productivity. While assuring that the transportation of the inputs to the divisions will be ensured by SOWEDA due to the poor state of roads in the region, the General Manager promised that the institution will continue to provide high yielding planting materials to farmers at subsidized prices.

The South West Regional Delegate of Agriculture and Rural Development, James Enang and the Representative of the Farmers’ Platform, Itoe Hansel both lauded SOWEDA for the gesture saying that it will not only improve agricultural production and productivity but also enhance government’s second-generation agriculture policy. Clement Fon Ndimkum called on the beneficiary farmers to make judicious use of the inputs admonishing them to abstain from local planting materials and adopt the SOWEDA disease-resistant materials.