Idess Dewilbois on January 21, 2016, visited one projects in Yaounde and Binguela on the outskirts of Yaounde.
The Director for West and Central Africa Division of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, Dutch-born Ides Dewilbois, has hailed the level of execution of IFAD- funded projects in Cameroon. Dewilbois and a team of agro-pastoral experts on a five-day working visit to Cameroon were at an aquaculture site in Melen, Yaounde yesterday, January 21, 2016.
The delegation marveled at the work carried out by a team from the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industry, MINEPIA. The Minister, Dr. Taïga, told Dewilbois and his delegation that the fish production unit, besides multiplying fish species and other aquatic material for reproduction, also trains fish farmers. The project has since met its goal of sustainably improving food security and livelihoods, he disclosed. Incomes of fish farmers have increased and promoters of aquaculture have seen their businesses leap economically with more jobs created. The Melen Aquaculture Unit is a project of PEA Jeune, one of the three flagship programmes of IFAD in Cameroon. The IFAD team’s second stopover yesterday was at the Agricultural School in Binguela on the outskirts of Yaounde where PEA Jeune has set up an incubation centre.
Prior to the field visits, Dewilbois and his team held a working session with the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Henri Eyebe Ayissi and his colleague of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries, Dr Taïga. Both cabinet ministers acknowledged IFAD’s support to Cameroon. The specialised unit of the United Nations has since 1981 financed over 10 rural development projects and programmes in Cameroon, with emphasis on alleviating poverty. Henri Eyebe Ayissi recalled that three IFAD projects are going on in Cameroon - the Rural Microfinance Development Support Project, PADMIR, the Commodity Value Chain Development Support Project, PADFA and PEA Jeune.
The Ministers informed the visiting delegation that government has set as objective to scale up job creation. Focus is on the training of youths who can subsequently be self-employed and at the same time create jobs. Idess Dewilbois stressed that his coming to Cameroon was to meet with partners and the people with whom they are working. “Seeing where we are working and what projects we are doing, discussing with the communities and farmers their dreams and needs and how better we can support them to improve livelihoods, is important to IFAD,” Dewilbois explained.
