South West:
Second Farming Season Launched
By Prince Oben Agbor
The Governor of the Southwest region, Bernard Okalia Bilai, represented by the Senior Divisional Officer for Meme division, Chamberlin Ntou’ou Ndong, says the Southwest region remains the bread basket of Cameroon.
He was speaking at the esplanade of the South West Farmers’ Cooperative Union, SOWEFCU Ltd, in Kumba, on Friday, July 7, while launching the 2023 cropping season in the Southwest region. He said despite the crisis that has hit the region and affected farming season for close to six years, the region has been struggling to overcome the challenges that come with it.
The representative of the governor enjoined the farmers from all the six divisions of the region to ensure that the Southwest fully returns as the bread basket of the nation.
Mr. Ntou’ou Ndong enumerated the difficulties farmers face but said the government along with its partners are engaged in mitigating the challenges.
While also enumerating some efforts by the government to boost food production through its planned activities under implementation, the representative of the governor expressed optimism of the successes ahead with the second planting season for 2023 before pleading with the farmers to share the knowledge on government’s efforts in overcoming the various challenges.
The representative of the governor recommended that the Regional Delegate of Agriculture and Rural Development for the Southwest should work with the Regional Delegate of Communication for the Southwest to spread various information to farmers through local radio stations.
Earlier, the president of a farmers’ platform (PLANOPAC), Bau Ndedi Akama, in a welcome address, thanked the State for the gesture in the provision of quality seeds to farmers in order to make Meme division in particular and the Southwest region as a whole not to lag behind in food sufficiency.
The farmers, through the best cooperatives in all the six divisions of the region, received farming inputs such as chemicals, seeds, hoes, sprayers, hand trucks among other things to help them improve on their yields.
Fertilizers were sold to the farmers at a subsidised price.
The farmers were lectured on best practices in the application of fertilizers on their farms.
The launch was attended by administrative and municipal authorities as well as various stakeholders including the South West Development Authority, SOWEDA, and United Nations agencies.
Also in attendance at the launch were the Regional Delegate of Agriculture and Rural Development for the Southwest, Jackson Ncapi, as well as his collaborator, Divisional Delegate of Agriculture and Rural Development for Meme, Daniel Asong.
The event was graced by animations from the different farmers’ groups in present.