Lukong Pius Nyuylime
24 April 2008
The plantain sector will receive an additional boost this year following the announcement of the distribution soon, of over two million stalks to farmers of the production basins in the seven southern provinces of the country including Mayo Banyo in Adamawa.
According to the Coordinator of the Plantain Development Programme at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Emmanuel Foumane Obate, the nurseries will be planted on 1,900 hectares of land. The Plantain sector, he said, has become a veritable source of income for farmers and its production today is estimated at 1.5 million tons. Like many other food crops, this crop is equally witnessing progressive price hikes on the market. But how come a crop that is widely consumed across the nation and cultivated by a greater part of the population has remained so scarce? This is question on many lips.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is quite aware of the hurdles the sector is going through hence the putting in place in 2002 of a programme to handle the affairs of the sector. Unfortunately, since the programme took off, it has gone through a series of setbacks, notably, administrative bottlenecks, poor management and insufficient budget. The plantain programme was created following the disparity between demand and supply in Cameroon. It forms part of the programme and projects put in place by government within the framework of the development of the rural sector. Presently, the programme covers all the seven southern provinces of the country including Mayo Banyu Division in Adamawa.
The global objective of the programme is to increase plantain production and revenue for different actors in the sector. This is expected to be achieved through the following specific objectives: increase and guarantee the production of good quality plant material, increase land for cultivation, improve farm productivity and marketing of the crop both in Cameroon and the sub-region. This year, the programme sets out to create the National Interprofessional Association of Plantain Actors in a bid to better organise the farmers.
"Farmers have been complaining of the late arrival of nurseries obliging them to disrespect the planting season", Foumane Obate said, explaining that the distribution of seed did not go through the public contract process some years back.. "The integration of the sector into the public contract system has caused a lot of delays so much that there is an outright disparity between the public contract time table and the planting season", he underscored. As if that were not all, when the seeds are available, there is the problem of transportation.
Considering the consequences this has been having on plantain production, the programme has reviewed its strategy. Instead of passing through the public contract system, the seeds are now nursed at the level of farmers through their association. They have been trained to that effect and training continues. They nurse the seeds, grow the plants and distribute to members with the guidance of agricultural extension workers. Last year, farmers associations produced more than 2 million plants. "We have already trained about 600 nursery growers in plantain producing basins", he said.
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