The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development inaugurated the unit last Thursday urging farmers to use the facility to increase production.
The agrarian population of Muyuka (Fako Division) through their Mayor, Nkeng Michael Akamin, has expressed thanks and loyalty to President Paul Biya for offering them a FCFA 70 million corn seed processing unit, the first of its kind in the entire South West Region.
Mr. Essimi Menye, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, turned on the unit in the morning of 19 February in Muyuka as an inaugural symbol so the people could begin using it. The Minister told Muyuka population that maize continues to enjoy an open market for breweries, bakeries and direct consumers across the country and beyond. He explained that the machine-gift from government was meant to scale-up production of maize with high yielding seeds. He articulated government plans to get farmers process their produce locally for added value so as to fetch them more dividends. The Minister said experts were working on hybrid maize that could produce up to 10 tons per hectare and so enable farmers to get to industrial levels of production.
The Muyuka Maize Processing Unit
Installed at the heart of Muyuka town, the maize processing unit will serve over 10,000 farmers of the area who had often resorted to less quality recycled seeds for lack of appropriate technology. The farmers promised to raise their yield to 120,000 tonnes this year and go crescendo thanks to the new-found seed processing machine. Maize production, according to experts, will fetch more than FCFA 500 million for farmers in the area this time around. Concerning seed production, there are hopes that 60 tonnes of seed will be produced this year in Muyuka on a surface of 30,000 hectares.
The machine can handle rice, soya bean and sorghum. When the maize is brought to the unit the moisture content is tested. If it is between 10.5 and 13 it means that the maize is sufficiently dry and ready for packaging. The machine is in four compartments. The first is the elevator; the second is for sorting and grading, the third for chemical treatment and the last for packaging. And so the farmers have their seeds ready for planting especially that which germinates 99.9 per cent on the farms.
Minister Essimi Menye later launched the farming season for the seven meridian regions of Cameroon in Buea in the afternoon of 19 February distributing farm inputs, seeds and farm equipment to common initiative groups. While in Buea, the Minister announced large-scale initiatives to assist farmers elevate production of food and cash crops to better the living conditions of Cameroonians. These mega-initiatives will include free donation of seeds, closer follow-up of farms and especially a census of plants in the farms so as to know how much yield Cameroon can boast of.
