Stakeholders say teams will be constituted, empowered and deployed to the field soon.  

The decree of the President of the Republic of June 29, 2015 announcing the collection of data on the country’s agriculture and livestock sectors have been visibly received with applause at the concerned ministries. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Essimi Menye, did not hide his feelings on June 30, 2015 in Yaounde as he chaired a ceremony in his cabinet.

He gladly told his close aids on the sidelines of the get-together that their dream of second-generation agriculture in Cameroon was taking shape with the dawn of a presidential decree announcing a count of the country’s agriculture and livestock potentials. It follows the signing on March 13, 2014, of a framework agreement for technical cooperation between Cameroon and the Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO for the preparation of the census.

The General Census of Agriculture and Livestock will see teams deployed to the ten regions of the country as soon as possible with focus on gathering information on who produces what and where as well as who sells what from where and who eats what from where. “We want to feed Cameroonians and this is only possible when we know the diet of each and every one and the country’s production capacity,” said Essimi Menye.

The overall objective, he stressed, is to strategise for the effective implementation of second-generation agriculture. He argued that the State wants visibility on its wealth of agriculture and livestock farming to push the concept of second-generation agriculture forward. Food and agricultural statistics produced in Cameroon is also set to satisfying the priority needs of government and international organizations. The inter-ministerial operation to span 36 months once completed will provide government with reliable information for the efficient implementation of the new-found agricultural policy. The operation is expected to follow a modular approach of the FAO with technical expertise from the National Institute of Statistics.

Mobilizing human resources remains a challenge, and Essimi Menye says they are on the right footing. “We have few people for the exercise, but we are going to recruit more to be able to conduct the survey,” he explained. Another area of interest lies in mobilizing the needed funding to have the operation successful. The Minister Delegate to the Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Yaouba Abdoulaye on May 15, 2014 in an audience with a mission of the FAO and the National Institute of Statistics recalled how Cameroon needed to mobilize FCFA 8 billion for the operation.

He told them government was already mobilizing the funding. As at last week; “we have some funding but we are going to source for more from partners,” Agriculture and Rural Development Minister says. However, the management of the operation is expected to be carried out within the framework of programme budgeting as approved by the project’s national technical committee.