Publié le 19/01/11 : 09:26:36

Ebolowa Agropastoral Show : Address by H.E. Paul BIYA President of the Republic of Cameroon

Excellencies,
The Governor of the South Region,
The Government Delegate to the Ebolowa City Council,
Traditional and religious authorities,
Populations of the South Region,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to be with you in Ebolowa for the
opening of the National Agro-Pastoral Show to celebrate this
important gathering of the rural world.

• The Government Delegate to the Ebolowa City Council,

Thank you for your welcome and the kind words you have
addressed to me and my wife.
I sincerely appreciate the prestigious title the populations of the
South Region have just conferred on me. And I wholeheartedly
accept to be elevated to the dignity of "Nnom Ngii", that is to say,
the Supreme Master of the age-old science and wisdom of this
region. I hope I shall be up to that dignity.

I am not betraying any secret by revealing to you that my wife also
feels honoured to now bear the charming name of "Nyia Meyong",
"Mother of the people".

We also welcome with total satisfaction the gifts, the signs of joy
we have observed since we arrived in the chief town of the South
Region.

• Populations of the South Region,

Thank you for so much care and such loving generosity.

I would also like to thank everyone who contributed in one
way or another to the organization of this Show. Firstly, of course,
my thanks go to the National Organizing Committee for the
seriousness it showed in its work, but also and above all to farmers,
stockbreeders, fishermen, rural artisans, who in some cases have
come from afar, for the quality of their products on display. My
thanks obviously go to the elite and populations of the South
Region, who have been so committed and have turned out
massively today. I extend very warm greetings to them.

For various reasons related notably to weather conditions and
procedures, we were unable to complete the various projects
envisaged within the framework of this Show. I am referring
particularly to the bypasses and the Agric Show Hotel. I want to
assure you that all these projects will be carried through this year.
My Office will particularly see to that alongside the Vice Prime
Minister in charge of agriculture.

People of the South in particular, and of Cameroon in general! For
nearly twenty years, you have yearned for this Show. Here then is
the Agric Show, bearing hopes for a rural world resolutely engaged
in the development process. Indeed, Cameroon relies primarily on
the primary sector, namely agriculture, stockbreeding, fisheries and
handicraft, to become an emerging country by 2035.

• Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am sure you will remember this,: for about twenty years now, I
have kept saying that agriculture, in the broadest sense - that is to
say, including stockbreeding and fisheries - is the true wealth of our
country and that oil and mining revenues, useful as they are, can
not be the sole basis of our development. Is it really necessary to
recall our agro-pastoral potentials? Vast expanses of exploitable
land or sea, generally favorable climate, fertile soils, many plant
varieties, industrious and hard-working labour, and so on.

The opportunity therefore seems appropriate to solemnly recall the
vocation of our agriculture in the broadest sense:

• Firstly, it must feed our population or, in other words,

ensure our food self-sufficiency. Is this the case? In principle
yes, but in practice things are a little different. Some of our
regions are still dependent on food aid. There are shortages of
certain products. The result: speculation leading to price hikes,
making food unaffordable for those most disadvantaged;

• Secondly, in a country like ours where 60% of the population

depends on agriculture, it should be the primary job provider.
Yet, we know that many rural people – especially the youth –
find it difficult to get employed and, attracted by the
“glamour of the city", fuel rural exodus.

• Thirdly, the production capacity of our agriculture remains

highly under-utilized, thus hindering it from taking its rightful
place in our economy, thereby contributing to improving the
living conditions of the populations concerned. That is one of
the reasons for the stagnation of our human development
index and our delay in achieving the Millennium Development
Goals.

• Finally, insufficient production of certain goods such as rice,

maize, sugar and fish obliges us to import large quantities
thereof, thus seriously upsetting our foreign trade balance.
Yet we could easily produce more of these foods or substitute
them with local products such as plantain, cassava and other
tubers.

If you wish, let us now review our plant and animal products to
know where we stand.

Firstly, crop production:

- As concerns food crops, on which our food security highly
depends, there has been a slight increase in production in recent
years. This is true for rice, maize, millet and sorghum as well as
plantain, cassava and potato. This positive trend also applies to
vegetables, fruits and oilseeds.
But at this juncture, I want to make two comments:

For cereals, it is clear that we should produce much more to avoid,
as I said earlier, importing them. Going by the information I have,
we spent 500 billion CFA francs in 2009 for the importation of flour,
rice and fish, that is, seven times more than in 1994! We must
absolutely free ourselves from this dependency. As well noted in
the Yaounde Declaration by participants at the Africa21
International Conference I quote, "Africa must no longer import to
eat." End of quote. The main idea to retain from that conference is
this: "Africa must no longer import to eat."

My second comment concerns the inaccessibility of the basins
where our staple food crops are produced; such inaccessibility is a
drawback to their market access. And you, here in the South
Region, know well what inaccessibility means.

Increasing the production of crops in shortage and improving our
channels of communication with rural areas must now be
considered urgent priorities.

- Regarding cash crops, mainly cocoa and coffee, after a decline in
production due to depressed prices, we are witnessing a gradual
improvement in tonnage, which is more significant for cocoa. Such
improvement should be encouraged. Lingering problems to be
solved are associated with aging orchards, product quality and,
again, maintenance of feeder roads

- I would also like to say something about industrial crops - cotton,
oil palm, rubber, sugar cane and banana - that fall within the realm
of both agriculture and industry.

In my opinion, we do not use enough of our potentials in these
sectors. In fact, I have noticed that each year we import substantial
quantities of sugar and palm oil while we have large areas of land
suitable for these crops. I also think we could extend our rubber
and banana plantations to generate foreign exchange earnings and
jobs, and boost cotton cultivation to meet an expected increase in
global consumption that is just emerging. I feel we have
demonstrated excessive timidity in these sectors.

Turning now to livestock:

- Livestock production is progressing. Beef, meat from small
ruminants and pork have reached significant tonnages. But the
most remarkable growth has been witnessed in poultry, resulting in
a substantial reduction in imports. This observation is interesting
insofar as it shows that increasing our domestic production almost
automatically leads to a reduction in imports. There has also been a
significant growth in milk and egg production. But I am sure that
there is still much room for growth in all these sectors.

- Sea and inland fishing as well as fish farming play a significant
role in our country on account of their protein content in our
population’s diet. We cannot but acknowledge that we have not yet
explored all the potentialities of our fisheries resources. Efforts
should be made in this direction to prevent us importing large
quantities of fish, notably mackerel we are mad about.

Does this mean that in these different sectors, our development
strategy has not achieved its objectives?

As a reminder, the idea was to make progress towards modernizing
agriculture, stockbreeding and traditional fisheries to increase
production and productivity of small farms and foster the
emergence of "second generation" production units, that is, large
and medium size environmentally-friendly companies.

To this end the government has initiated numerous actions and it
would be tedious to list them all here. They concern training,
cooperatives as well as support to agricultural development
enterprises and rural micro-finance, just to name a few.

Besides these rather "basic actions", the equally numerous major
projects or programmes concerning cross-cutting rural sector
issues are worth mentioning; for instance the programme to
enhance competitiveness of the agro-pastoral and fisheries sectors
or the national agricultural extension and research programme,
among others.

Considering the large number and extreme diversity of these
actions and programs, it is difficult today to make an overall
assessment of our strategy.

While unquestionable results have been obtained in some areas,
the overall impression is that of excessive fragmentation and a
certain lack of coherence.

The time has come to resolutely put into practice the
comprehensive agricultural policy which I have often wished for
publicly. I enjoin the ministries concerned to move in that direction
immediately and I want substantial results.

I urge them to make every effort to ensure our food security,
create jobs in rural areas, reduce our imports and boost exports of
agricultural products, for our agriculture broadly speaking to play
its role as prime mover of the national economy.

Let us attempt an analysis of the factors likely to give fresh impetus
to our agriculture.

Our rural sector development policy needs to resolve the thorny
problem of inadequate funding, whether concerning public or
private investment. We must also address various other anomalies
such as:

• lack of improved plant and animal material;

• difficult access to land;

• weak support;

• poor land yield;

• magnitude of post-harvest losses;

• inaccessibility of producing areas;

• lengthy payment procedures; and

• mismatch between the market system and the agricultural

calendar.

These are compounded by the effects of climate change.
Apart from this last constraint to which we can only adapt, all the
others require urgent and appropriate responses. The most
important include:

• establishment of a fertilizer production unit;

• commissioning of the agricultural machines assembly plant

under construction here in Ebolowa;

• rehabilitation of seed farms;

• preparation of land reform to meet the requirements of second

generation agriculture;

• construction of agro-pastoral and fishing product markets and

purchasing cooperatives;

• reform of agricultural training and education;

• strengthening the mechanism for financing rural activities by

opening a Farmers’ Bank and SME/SMI Bank.

I therefore call on the various ministries and services in charge of
our rural development to take up these issues and adopt measures
to implement them as soon as possible.

Furthermore, the development of rural areas entails opening up
agricultural production areas and implementing major structuring
projects.

Accordingly, I have decided that the following roads will be paved:

• Ebolowa-Kribi via Akom II;

• Ebolowa-Kribi via Lolodorf, as part of the Kribi industrial

port complex;

• Olama-Lolodorf;

• Sangmelima-Ouesso via Djoum for which funding is

available;

• Ebolowa-Sangmelima via Mengong, on which work will

start this year.

I have also decided to get started, as soon as possible, the
construction of a number of facilities, notably as you know the:

• Memve'ele hydroelectric dam and Kribi deepsea port;

• Mekin hydroelectric dam;

• Kribi gas power plant.

Regarding health, a medical imaging centre has been operational in
Ebolowa since last year. As for the hemodialysis centre, work will
be launched soon, since the contract has already been awarded.
Furthermore, the Sangmelima referral hospital will be delivered this
year.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
My dear compatriots of the rural world;

I hope this Show will mark the beginning of the revival of our
agricultural policy. Despite the strict fiscal discipline which we must
observe, a special financial effort will be made by the State to
support agriculture, stockbreeding and fisheries in the coming
financial years. We can thus hope, as I said earlier, that these
activities will become the prime movers of our economy and play a
vital role in our march towards emergence.

It should be noted that the implementation of this comprehensive
agricultural policy and rural development requirements that I have
just mentioned will undoubtedly need to be supplemented by
international cooperation.

I would therefore like to specially recognize the presence at this
Show of Representatives of international organizations and
Cameroon’s friendly countries and thank them for supporting us in
this domain.

Our international partners can rest assured that they will always
find in our country, not only conducive natural factors, but also
hard working people and a favourable environment, based on
stable institutions and a firm determination to develop our
agriculture.

Before concluding, I wish to pay a befitting tribute to our farmers,
and particularly rural women who are sparing no effort in all links of
the agro-pastoral production chain, thereby ensuring that we eat
our fill.

Agriculture, I repeat, is our real wealth.

To conclude, I would like once again to address all those who have
come to Ebolowa from far and wide to exhibit the fruit of their
labour. I wish to thank them once again, congratulate them and
remind them that all Cameroonians- I repeat all Cameroonians- are
children or grandchildren of farmers, stockbreeders, fishermen and
rural artisans and they must be proud of it. That is why we are in
solidarity with them and they can count on us.

All together, let us therefore solemnly undertake, here and now, to
strive resolutely to ensure that the new agricultural policy that I
have just defined starts becoming a reality within the next six
months. That way, Cameroon which nature has so generously
endowed will consolidate its role and place as Central Africa’s bread
basket.

Long live the Ebolowa National Agro-pastoral Show!
Long live the South Region!
Long live Cameroon!

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