The Entrepreneur - Cameroon's Premier Economic & Business Journal

The State of Food and Agriculture: Livestock in the Balance

FAO's annual flagship publication, "The State of Food and Agriculture" provides scientific assessment of the current issues in the food and agriculture debate. This year's report draws attention to the rapid expansion of the livestock sector - driven by population growth, urbanization and rising affluence. It emphasizes the need for broader rural development policies and increased governance of the livestock sector, to ensure its impact on the environment is limited...More

African Development Bank has new Agriculture Sector Strategy

The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group Board approved on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 in Tunis, the institution’s 2010-2014 Agricultural Sector Strategy. The strategy seeks to position the institution to effectively contribute to broader development of greater agricultural productivity, food security and poverty reduction while promoting the conservation of the natural resource base. Based on wide stakeholder-consultations, the Strategy focuses on Agricultural Infrastructure and Renewable Natural Resource Management.  – two mutually reinforcing pillars where the Bank Group has demonstrated considerable competence and comparative advantage.

Trafic faunique: Huit braconniers dans les filets du Minfof

Ils ont été appréhendés en possession de  400 espèces protégées

Par Pierre Alexis Kaptchoung

Le butin était constitué entre autre de plus de 400 pièces de gibier boucané de morceaux frais de gorille, de sanglier, de gros singes entiers, des crocodiles et pangolins vivant ou morts. Ces espèces sont protégées par la loi de 1994 portant sur la forêt et la faune. La saisie a eu lieu mardi dernier sur l’une des pistes qui relie les localités de Dimako, dans le Haut-Nyong et Bouam dans le Lom et Djerem. Pistes fréquentées essentiellement par les braconniers, selon les déclarations du chef de service régional de la Faune à la délégation régionale du Minfof pour l’Est, Oscar Tchuisseu qui a fait savoir que les fautifs se seraient ravitaillés dans la zone où était installée la société forestière Sebec.

Rome Declaration in Food Security

A joint declaration has been made by 450 organizations from over 90 countries to promote food sovereignty as the solution to world hunger. The report condemns the current food production system, controlled by large scale agricultural industries. The system, they say, must be reformed -- to allow communities control over their resources, to promote small scale farming, and to strengthen rural-urban food webs...More

Cameroonian invents Coffee pulping Machine

By Bright Lokenge

A Cameroonian born technologist, Piam Fokam has invented a coffee pulping machine. The coffee pulping machine has the capacity to pulp 30 tons of coffee daily. It was presented to the public at the Chamber of Agriculture in Yaounde, December 28, 2009. The invention and a series of other agricultural machines are expected to revolutionise the rural setting in Cameroon. Cameroon is aiming to double its coffee production in the next few years. At its peak during the 1960s, According to Michael Ndoping, general manager of the National Cocoa and Coffee Board, Cameroon produced 120,000 tonnes of coffee each year but that level has fallen to around 40,000 tonnes today. “ By 2013, we want it to be at 80,000 tonnes" (Read Coffee News). Mr Fokam's invention is therefore timely in contributing to Cameroon's new vision for the coffee sub-sector. Most of Cameroon’s coffee is grown by small landowners on plots of two to 10 hectares, and nearly all of it is grown in mixed-cropped farms. Its unique profile comes from the rich volcanic soil as well as from the benefits of growing in a diversified crop environment. More about Cameroon Coffee . © The Entrepreneur Newspaper 2010. All Rights Reserved . Follow The Entrepreneur News on Twitter. See Our Events in Face Book.

Agriculture and Climate - The Critical Connection

This comprehensive report by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy demonstrates how agriculture can be the victim and the cause of climate change. Fertilizers, enteric fermentation, manure management, rice cultivation etc. affect the climate more than we expect. Local food production and bioenergy may not always sustain the world, depending on way they are produced. But, well tailored food, agriculture and trade policies can help climate mitigation. The report proposes a number of key policy recommendations...More

Research, Innovation, Technology in Food Production: The Way Out for Africa's Chronic Food Problem

"To attain an acceptable level of food security and sufficiency, African countries need tough new land reforms, which must favor mechanized methods of food production and, unfortunately, disfavor subsistence farming which, after many centuries of service, has failed to live up to the expectations of most Africans."

Rice offers new hope in Benin

Will Benin be self-sufficient in rice one day? Experts at FAO are forecasting just that, and going so far as to say that in time - probably as soon as 2011 - this West African country will even export its surplus rice output. A two-pronged strategy based on intensifying production and marketing of high quality seeds is behind the predicted «miracle». As part of the campaign, a US$500,000 FAO project, due to begin in September 2009, will help Benin achieve an ambitious goal: that of producing 300,000 tonnes of rice - more than double current output - by 2011. To do that, the country will have to produce more than 2,200 tonnes of high quality rice seeds each year.

RUMPI Rural Development Project Asks For Extension

By Christopher Ambe Shu

The 17 billion Francs CFA Rumpi Project -placed under the Southwest Development Authority, SOWEDA, has requested for the extension of its execution period by one year in order to ensure full implementation of its activities. The Rumpi Project, conceived for a six-year life span, kicked off in 2004,with the goal of reducing poverty in rural areas of the Southwest region by increasing their incomes in a sustainable manner, through improving agricultural output as well as their socio-economic environment.

One in Every 10 Americans receives Food Stamps

Food stamp list swells to record 32.2 million

By Charles Abbott

A record 32.2 million people -- one in every 10 Americans -- received food stamps at latest count, the government said on Thursday, a reflection of the recession now in its 16th month. Food stamps are the major U.S. antihunger program and help poor people buy groceries. The average benefit was $112.82 per person in January. The January figure marks the third time in five months that enrollment set a record.